sociology discussion
A112233A
SociologyABriefIntroduction13thEdition.pdf
Page iii
sociology a brief introduction
13th edition
Richard T. Schaefer DePaul University
Page iv
SOCIOLOGY: A BRIEF INTRODUCTION, THIRTEENTH EDITION Published by McGraw-Hill Education, 2 Penn Plaza, New York, NY 10121. Copyright © 2019 by McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. Previous editions © 2017, 2015, and 2013. No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education, including, but not limited to, in any network or other electronic storage or transmission, or broadcast for distance learning. Some ancillaries, including electronic and print components, may not be available to customers outside the United States. This book is printed on acid-free paper. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 LWI 21 20 19 18
ISBN 978-1-259-91243-6 (bound edition) MHID 1-259-91243-4 (bound edition) ISBN 978-1-260-15379-8 (loose-leaf edition) MHID 1-260-15379-7 (loose-leaf edition)
Executive Portfolio Manager: Claire Brantley Lead Product Developer: Dawn Groundwater Marketing Manager: Will Walter Lead Content Project Manager, Core: Susan Trentacosti Content Project Manager, Assessment: George Theofanopoulos Content Project Manager: Sandra Schnee Senior Buyer: Laura M. Fuller Design: Jessica Cuevas Senior Content Licensing Specialist: Ann Marie Jannette Cover Image: ©Tassii/Getty Images
Compositor: Aptara®, Inc.
All credits appearing on page or at the end of the book are considered to be an extension of the copyright page.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Schaefer, Richard T., author. Title: Sociology : a brief introduction / Richard T. Schaefer, DePaul University. Description: 13th Edition. | Dubuque : McGraw-Hill Education, [2019] | Revised edition of the author’s Sociology : a brief introduction, [2016] Identifiers: LCCN 2018039145| ISBN 9781259912436 (alk. paper) | ISBN 1259912434 (alk. paper) Subjects: LCSH: Sociology. Classification: LCC HM585 .S324 2019 | DDC 301—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018039145
The Internet addresses listed in the text were accurate at the time of publication. The inclusion of a website does not indicate an endorsement by the authors or McGraw-Hill Education, and McGraw-Hill Education does not guarantee the accuracy of the information presented at these sites.
mheducation.com/highered
Page v
dedication To my grandchildren, Matilda and Reuben. May they enjoy
exploring life’s possibilities.
Page vii
about the author Richard T. Schaefer: Professor Emeritus, DePaul
University BA, Northwestern University, MA, PhD, University of Chicago
Growing up in Chicago at a time when neighborhoods were going through transitions in ethnic and racial composition, Richard T. Schaefer found himself increasingly intrigued by what was happening, how people were reacting, and how these changes were affecting neighborhoods and people’s jobs. His interest in social issues caused him to gravitate to sociology courses at Northwestern University, where he eventually received a BA in sociology.
“Originally as an undergraduate I thought I would go on to law school and become a lawyer. But after taking a few sociology courses, I found myself wanting to learn more about what sociologists studied, and fascinated by the kinds of questions they raised.” This fascination led him to obtain his MA and PhD in sociology from the University of Chicago. Dr. Schaefer’s continuing interest in race relations led him to write his master’s thesis on the membership of the Ku Klux Klan and his doctoral thesis on racial prejudice and race relations in Great Britain.
Dr. Schaefer went on to become a professor of sociology at DePaul University in Chicago. In 2004 he was named to the Vincent DePaul professorship in recognition of his undergraduate teaching and scholarship. He has taught introductory sociology for over 35 years to students in colleges, adult education programs, nursing programs, and even a maximum-security prison. Dr. Schaefer’s love of teaching is apparent in his interaction with his students. “I find myself constantly learning from the students who are in my classes and from reading what they write. Their insights into the material we read or current events that we discuss often become part of future course material and sometimes even find their way into my writing.”
Dr. Schaefer is the author of the thirteenth edition of Sociology (McGraw-Hill, 2012), Sociology in Modules, fourth edition (McGraw- Hill, 2018), the seventh edition of Sociology Matters (McGraw-Hill, 2018), and, with Robert Feldman, Sociology and Your Life with P.O.W.E.R. Learning (2016). He is also the author of Racial and Ethnic Groups, now in its fifteenth edition (2019), Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the USA (first edition, 2014), and Race and Ethnicity in the United States, (ninth edition, 2019), all published by Pearson. Together with William Zellner, he coauthored the ninth edition of Extraordinary Groups, published by Waveland Press in 2015. Dr. Schaefer served as the general editor of the three-volume Encyclopedia of Race, Ethnicity, and Society, published by Sage in 2008. These books have been translated into Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, and Spanish, as well as adapted for use in Canadian colleges.
Dr. Schaefer’s articles and book reviews have appeared in many journals, including American Journal of Sociology; Phylon: A Review of Race and Culture; Contemporary Sociology; Sociology and Social Research; Sociological Quarterly; Patterns of Prejudice; and Teaching Sociology. He served as president of the Midwest Sociological Society in 1994–1995.
Dr. Schaefer’s advice to students is to “look at the material and make connections to your own life and experiences. Sociology will make you a more attentive observer of how people in groups interact and function. It will also make you more aware of people’s different
needs and interests—and perhaps more ready to work for the common good, while still recognizing the individuality of each person.”
1 2 3 4 5
6 7 8
9 10 11 12 13 14
Page viii
brief contents Chapter Opening Excerpts xiv Boxed Features xv Social Policy Sections xvii Maps xvii Tracking Sociological Perspectives Tables xviii Summing Up Tables xviii
Understanding Sociology . . . 1 Sociological Research . . . 25 Culture . . . 48 Socialization and the Life Course . . . 69 Social Interaction, Groups, and Social
Structure . . . 90 Mass Media and Social Media . . . 117 Deviance, Crime, and Social Control . . . 138 Stratification and Social Mobility in the United
States . . . 163 Global Inequality . . . 190 Racial and Ethnic Inequality . . . 208 Stratification by Gender and Sexuality . . . 239 The Family and Household Diversity . . . 261 Education and Religion . . . 284 Government and the Economy . . . 313
15
16
Health, Population, and the Environment . . . 339
Social Change in the Global Community . . . 370
Glossary 395 References 403 Name Index 441 Subject Index 450 Applications of Sociology’s Major Theoretical Approaches 469 Coverage of Race and Ethnicity, Gender, and Social Class 470
Page ix
contents Chapter Opening Excerpts xiv Boxed Features xv Social Policy Sections xvii Maps xvii Tracking Sociological Perspectives Tables xviii Summing Up Tables xviii
1 Understanding Sociology 1
©Cathy Yeulet/123RF
What Is Sociology? 3 The Sociological Imagination 3 Sociology and the Social Sciences 3 Sociology and Common Sense 5
What Is Sociological Theory? 6 The Development of Sociology 7 Early Thinkers 7 Émile Durkheim 8 Max Weber 8 Karl Marx 9
W. E. B. DuBois 10 Twentieth-Century Developments 10
Major Theoretical Perspectives 12 Functionalist Perspective 12 Conflict Perspective 13 Interactionist Perspective 14 The Sociological Approach 15 Research Today: Looking at Sports from Five Sociological Perspectives 16
Taking Sociology with You 17 Applied and Clinical Sociology 17 Developing a Sociological Imagination 18 Sociology in the Global Community: Your Morning Cup of Coffee 19
Appendix: Careers in Sociology 20
2 Sociological Research 25
©Jim West/PhotoEdit
What Is the Scientific Method? 27 Defining the Problem 27 Reviewing the Literature 28 Formulating the Hypothesis 28 Collecting and Analyzing Data 29 Developing the Conclusion 30
In Summary: The Scientific Method 31
Major Research Designs 32 Surveys 32 Our Wired World: Surveying Cell Phone Users 33 Ethnography 34 Experiments 34 Research Today: Visual Sociology 35 Use of Existing Sources 36
Ethics of Research 37 Confidentiality 37 Conflict of Interest 37 Taking Sociology to Work: Dave Eberbach, Associate Director, Iowa Institute for Community Alliances 38 Value Neutrality 39
Feminist Methodology 39 Queer Theory and Methodology 40 The Data-Rich Future 40 SOCIAL POLICY AND SOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH: STUDYING HUMAN SEXUALITY 41 Appendix I: Using Statistics and Graphs 42 Appendix II: Writing a Research Report 44
3 Culture 48
©Nick Fox/Alamy Stock Photo
What Is Culture? 50 Cultural Universals 50 Ethnocentrism 51 Cultural Relativism 51 Sociobiology and Culture 51
Role of Language 52 Language: Written and Spoken 52 Nonverbal Communication 53
Norms and Values 54 Norms 54 Sociology in the Global Community: Symbolizing 9/11 55 Values 56
Global Culture War 57 Sociology on Campus: A Culture of Cheating? 58
Sociological Perspectives on Culture 58 Cultural Variation 59 Subcultures 59 Countercultures 60 Research Today: How Millennials View The Nation: Racial and Ethnic Vantage Points 61 Culture Shock 61
Page x
Development of Culture around the World 62 Innovation 62 Globalization, Diffusion, and Technology 62 Sociology in the Global Community: Life in the Global Village 63 Sociology in the Global Community: Cultural Survival in Brazil 64
SOCIAL POLICY AND CULTURE: BILINGUALISM 64
4 Socialization and the Life Course 69
©Mike Kemp/Getty Images.
The Role of Socialization 71 Social Environment: The Impact of Isolation 71 The Influence of Heredity 72
The Self and Socialization 74 Sociological Approaches to the Self 74 Sociology on Campus: Impression Management by Students 76 Psychological Approaches to the Self 76
Agents of Socialization 77 Family 77 Research Today: Rum Springa: Raising Children Amish Style 78 Taking Sociology to Work: Rakefet Avramovitz, Program Administrator, Child Care Law Center 79
School 79 Peer Group 79 Mass Media and Technology 80 Research Today: Parental Monitoring of the Digital World 81 Workplace 81 Religion and the State 82
Socialization throughout the Life Course 82 The Life Course 82 Anticipatory Socialization and Resocialization 83
Role Transitions throughout the Life Course 84 The Sandwich Generation 84 Adjusting to Retirement 84
SOCIAL POLICY AND SOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH: CHILD CARE AROUND THE WORLD 86
5 Social Interaction, Groups, and Social Structure 90
©Caia Image/Glow Images
Social Interaction and Reality 92 Elements of Social Structure 93 Statuses 93 Research Today: Disability as a Master Status 94
Social Roles 95 Groups 96 Taking Sociology to Work: Sarah Levy, Owner, S. Levy Foods 98 Social Networks 99 Social Institutions 99 Research Today: Twitter Networks: From Wildfires to Hurricanes 100
Understanding Organizations 102 Formal Organizations and Bureaucracies 102 Characteristics of a Bureaucracy 102 Sociology in the Global Community: McDonald’s and the Worldwide Bureaucratization of Society 105 Bureaucracy and Organizational Culture 106
Social Structure in Global Perspective 107 Durkheim’s Mechanical and Organic Solidarity 107 Tönnies’s Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft Lenski’s Sociocultural Evolution Approach 107 Our Wired World: Becoming Social in a Gesellschaft 108 Sociology in the Global Community: Disney World: A Postmodern Theme Park 111
SOCIAL POLICY AND ORGANIZATIONS: THE STATE OF THE UNIONS WORLDWIDE 112
6 Mass Media and Social Media 117
©Franziska Krug/German Select/Getty Images
Sociological Perspectives on the Media 119 Functionalist Perspective 119 Conflict Perspective 120 Our Wired World: Inside the Bubble: Internet Search Filters 123 Taking Sociology to Work: Lindsey Wallem, Social Media Consultant 125 Sociology in the Global Community: The Global Disconnect 126 Feminist Perspective 127 Interactionist Perspective 127 Our Wired World: Apps for Global Refugees 129
The Audience 129 Who Is in the Audience? 129 The Segmented Audience 130 Audience Behavior 131
The Media’s Global Reach 131 SOCIAL POLICY AND THE MEDIA: CENSORSHIP 133
7 Deviance, Crime, and Social Control 138
©Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images
What Is Deviance? 140 Deviance and Social Stigma 141
Page xi
Deviance and Technology 141
Social Control 141 Conformity and Obedience 142 Informal and Formal Social Control 143 Sociology on Campus: Binge Drinking 144
Law and Society 145 Sociological Perspectives on Deviance 146 Functionalist Perspective 146 Research Today: Debtors’ Jails in the Twenty-First Century 147 Interactionist Perspective 148 Research Today: Does Crime Pay? 149 Labeling Perspective 150 Conflict Perspective 151 Feminist Perspective 152
Crime: A Sociological Approach 152 Sociology on Campus: Packing Firearms on Campus 153 Victimless Crimes 153 Professional Crime 154 Organized Crime 154 White-Collar and Technology-Based Crime 154 Hate Crimes 155 Transnational Crime 155
Crime Statistics 156 Index Crimes and Victimization Surveys 156 Crime Trends 157 International Crime Rates 157 Taking Sociology to Work: Stephanie Vezzani, Special Agent, U.S. Secret
Service 158
SOCIAL POLICY AND SOCIAL CONTROL: GUN CONTROL 158
8 Stratification and Social Mobility in the United States 163
©PeerPoint/Alamy Stock Photo
Systems of Stratification 165 Slavery 165 Castes 167 Estates 167 Social Classes 168 Research Today: The Shrinking Middle Class 169
Sociological Perspectives on Stratification 170 Karl Marx’s View of Class Differentiation 170 Max Weber’s View of Stratification 171 Interactionist Perspective 171
Is Stratification Universal? 172 Functionalist Perspective 172 Conflict Perspective 172 Lenski’s Viewpoint 174 Research Today: Taxes as Opportunity 174
Stratification by Social Class 175 Objective Method of Measuring Social Class 175 Gender and Occupational Prestige 176 Multiple Measures 176
Income and Wealth 176 Poverty 177 Research Today: Calculating Your Risk of Poverty 178 Studying Poverty 179 Who Are the Poor? 180 Feminization of Poverty 180 The Underclass 181 Explaining Poverty 181
Life Chances 181 Sociology on Campus: Student Debt 182
Social Mobility 183 Open versus Closed Stratification Systems 183 Types of Social Mobility 183 Social Mobility in the United States 184
SOCIAL POLICY AND STRATIFICATION: EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION 186
9 Global Inequality 190
©Stockbyte/Getty Images
The Global Divide 192 Sociology in the Global Community: It’s All Relative: Appalachian Poverty and Congolese Affluence 193
Stratification in the World System 193 The Legacy of Colonialism 193 Poverty Worldwide 196 Millennium Development Goals 196 Sociology in the Global Community: Walking the Last Mile in Uganda: The Avon Approach 197 Multinational Corporations 198 Modernization 200
Stratification within Nations: A Comparative Perspective 201 Distribution of Wealth and Income 201 Social Mobility 201 Sociology in the Global Community: Getting Ahead Globally 203
SOCIAL POLICY AND GLOBAL INEQUALITY: RETHINKING WELFARE IN EUROPE AND NORTH AMERICA 204
10 Racial and Ethnic Inequality 208
©Diego G Diaz/Shutterstock
Page xii
Minority, Racial, and Ethnic Groups 210 Minority Groups 210 Race 211 Ethnicity 212
Prejudice and Discrimination 213 Prejudice 213 Color-Blind Racism 213 Sociology on Campus: Bias in Awarding Scholarship Money 214 Discriminatory Behavior 214 The Privileges of the Dominant 216 Taking Sociology to Work: Jennifer Michals, Program Assistant, Center for Native American and Indigenous Research, Northwestern University 217 Institutional Discrimination 217
Sociological Perspectives on Race and Ethnicity 218 Functionalist Perspective 219 Conflict Perspective 219 Labeling Perspective 219 Interactionist Perspective 220
Spectrum of Intergroup Relations 221 Genocide 221 Segregation 222 Amalgamation 222 Assimilation 222 Pluralism 222
Race and Ethnicity in the United States 223 African Americans 223 Native Americans 224
Sociology in the Global Community: The Aboriginal People of Australia 225 Asian Pacific Americans 225 Arab Americans 228 Latinos 229 Research Today: Hurricane Maria and the Puerto Rican Community 230 Jewish Americans 231 White Ethnics 232
Immigration and Continuing Diversity 233 SOCIAL POLICY AND RACIAL AND ETHNIC INEQUALITY: GLOBAL REFUGEE CRISIS 234
11 Stratification by Gender and Sexuality 239
©Jupiterimages/Getty Images
Social Construction of Gender 241 Gender Roles in the United States 241 Cross-Cultural Perspective 243 Sociology in the Global Community: Women in Combat Worldwide 244
Labeling and Human Sexuality 245 Gender and Human Sexuality 245 Sociology in the Global Community: No Gender, Please: It’s Preschool! 246 Labeling and Identity 246
Sociological Perspectives on Gender 247 Functionalist Perspective 247 Research Today: Measuring Discrimination Based on Sexual Identity 248 Conflict Perspective 248 Feminist Perspective 249 Intersections with Race, Class, and Other Social Factors 249 Interactionist Perspective 250
Women: The Oppressed Majority 251 Sexism and Sex Discrimination 251 The Status of Women Worldwide 251 Sociology in the Global Community: The Head Scarf and the Veil: Complex Symbols 252
The Workforce of the United States 253 Labor Force Participation 253 Compensation 253 Social Consequences of Women’s Employment 255
Emergence of a Collective Consciousness 256 SOCIAL POLICY AND GENDER STRATIFICATION: WORKPLACE SEXUAL HARASSMENT 256
12 The Family and Household Diversity 261
©Eyecandy Images/AGE Fotostock
Global View of the Family 263 Composition: What Is the Family? 263 Kinship Patterns: To Whom Are We Related? 264 Authority Patterns: Who Rules? 265 Research Today: An Extraordinary Patriarchy: The Oneida Community 265
Sociological Perspectives on the Family 266 Functionalist Perspective 266 Conflict Perspective 266 Interactionist Perspective 267 Feminist Perspective 267
Marriage and Family 268 Courtship and Mate Selection 268 Our Wired World: Love Is in the Air and on the Web 269 Variations in Family Life and Intimate Relationships 270 Child-Rearing Patterns 271 Research Today: Transracial Adoption: The Experience of Children from Korea 273
Divorce 275 Statistical Trends in Divorce 275 Factors Associated with Divorce 276 Impact of Divorce on Children 276
Lesbian and Gay Relationships 276 Diverse Lifestyles 277 Cohabitation 277 Remaining Single 277 Marriage without Children 278
SOCIAL POLICY AND THE FAMILY: FAMILY
Page xiii
LEAVE WORLDWIDE 279
13 Education and Religion 284
©Martin Shields/Alamy Stock Photo
Sociological Perspectives on Education 286 Functionalist Perspective 286 Conflict Perspective 289 Feminist Perspective 291 Sociology on Campus: The Debate over Title IX 292 Interactionist Perspective 292
Schools as Formal Organizations 293 Bureaucratization of Schools 293 Taking Sociology to Work: Diane Belcher Gray, Assistant Director of Volunteer Services, New River Community College 294 Teachers: Employees and Instructors 294 Student Subcultures 296 Homeschooling 297
Durkheim and the Sociological Approach to Religion 297 World Religions 298 Sociological Perspectives on Religion 299 The Integrative Function of Religion 300
Religion and Social Support 300 Religion and Social Change 301 Religion and Social Control: A Conflict Perspective 302 Feminist Perspective 302
Components of Religion 303 Belief 303 Ritual 304 Experience 304
Religious Organization 305 Ecclesiae 305 Denominations 305 Sects 306 New Religious Movements or Cults 306 Comparing Forms of Religious Organization 306 Research Today: The Church of Scientology: Religion or Quasi-Religion? 307
SOCIAL POLICY AND EDUCATION: CHARTER SCHOOLS 308
14 Government and the Economy 313
©Jim West/The Image Works
Economic Systems 315 Capitalism 315 Socialism 317 The Informal Economy 318
Power and Authority 318 Power 318 Types of Authority 319
Types of Government 320 Monarchy 320 Oligarchy 320 Dictatorship and Totalitarianism 320 Democracy 320
Political Behavior in the United States 321 Participation and Apathy 321 Race and Gender in Politics 322 Research Today: The Latino Political Voice 323
Models of Power Structure in the United States 324 Power Elite Models 324 Pluralist Model 325
War and Peace 326 War 326 Our Wired World: Politicking Online 327 Peace 327 Terrorism 328 Taking Sociology to Work: Joseph W. Drummond, Management Analyst, U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command 329
Changing Economies 330
The Changing Face of the Workforce 330 Research Today: Affirmative Action 331 Deindustrialization 331 The Sharing Economy 332 The Temporary Workforce 333 Offshoring 333
SOCIAL POLICY AND THE ECONOMY: MICROFINANCING 334
15 Health, Population, and the Environment 339
©Hung_Chung_Chih/Getty Images
Sociological Perspectives on Health and Illness 341 Functionalist Perspective 341 Conflict Perspective 342 Interactionist Perspective 343 Labeling Perspective 344
Social Epidemiology and Health 345 Social Class 345 Race and Ethnicity 346 Gender 346 Age 347 Gender Identity 347
Health Care in the United States 347 A Historical View 348 Physicians and Patients 348 Research Today: Health Care, Retail Style 349 Alternatives to Traditional Health Care 349 The Role of Government 350
What Is Mental Illness? 351 Theoretical Models of Mental Disorders 351 Patterns of Care 352
Population 353 Demography: The Study of Population 353 World Population Patterns 355 Sociology in the Global Community: Population Policy in China 356 Fertility Patterns in the United States 357
Migration 358 International Migration 358 Internal Migration 359
Sociological Perspectives on the Environment 359 Human Ecology 359 Conflict Perspective on the Environment 359 Ecological Modernization 360 Environmental Justice 360
Environmental Issues 361 Air Pollution 361 Sociology in the Global Community: Environmental Refugees 362 Water Pollution 362 Climate Change 363
Page xiv SOCIAL POLICY AND THE ENVIRONMENT: ENVIRONMENTALISM 364
16 Social Change in the Global Community 370
©Caro/Alamy Stock Photo
Social Movements 372 Relative Deprivation Approach 373 Resource Mobilization Approach 374 Gender and Social Movements 374 New Social Movements 374 Sociology in the Global Community: Women’s Social Movements in South Korea, India, and Bangladesh 375
Communications and the Globalization of Social Movements 376 Our Wired World: Organizing for Controversy via Computer-Mediated Communication 377
Theories of Social Change 377 Evolutionary Theory 377 Functionalist Perspective 379 Conflict Perspective 379
Resistance to Social Change 380
Economic and Cultural Factors 380 Resistance to Technology 381
Global Social Change 382 Anticipating Change 382 Social Change in Dubai 382
Technology and the Future 383 Computer Technology 384 Our Wired World: The Internet’s Global Profile 385 Artificial Intelligence 386 Privacy and Censorship in a Global Village 386 Biotechnology and the Gene Pool 387
SOCIAL POLICY AND GLOBALIZATION: TRANSNATIONALS 388
Glossary 395 References 403 Name Index 441 Subject Index 450 Applications of Sociology’s Major Theoretical Approaches 469 Coverage of Race and Ethnicity, Gender, and Social Class 470
chapter opening excerpts Every chapter in this textbook begins with an excerpt from one of the works listed here. These excerpts convey the excitement and relevance of sociological inquiry and draw readers into the subject matter of each chapter.
Chapter 1 Outcasts United by Warren T. St. John 2
Chapter 2 The Tender Cut: Inside the Hidden World of Self-Injury by Patricia A. Adler and Peter Adler 26
Chapter 3 “Body Ritual among the Nacirema” by Horace Miner 49
Chapter 4 The Wolfpack by Crystal Moselle 70
Chapter 5 “The Psychology of Imprisonment” by Philip Zimbardo 91
Chapter 6 Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age by Sherry Turkle 118
Chapter 7 Cop in the Hood: My Year Policing Baltimore’s Eastern District by Peter Moskos 139
Chapter 8 Speech at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston by Janet Yellen 164
Chapter 9 Portfolios of the Poor: How the World’s Poor Live on $2 a Day by Daryl Collins, Jonathan Morduch, Stuart Rutherford, and Orlanda Ruthven 191
Chapter 10 Asian American Dreams: The Emergence of an American People by Helen Zia 209
Chapter 11 Everyday Sexism: The Project That Inspired a Worldwide Movement by Laura Bates 240
Chapter 12 The Accordion Family: Boomerang Kids, Anxious Parents, and the Private Toll of Global Competition by Katherine S. Newman 262
Chapter 13 The Death and Life of the Great American School System by Diane Ravitch 285
Chapter 14 Who Rules America? The Triumph of the Corporate Rich, 7th edition, by G. William Domhoff 314
Chapter 15 Shopping Our Way to Safety: How We Changed from Protecting the Environment to Protecting Ourselves by Andrew Szasz 340
Chapter 16 Social Movements and New Technology by Victoria Carty 371
1-1 2-2 3-3
4-2 4-3 5-1 5-2 7-2 7-3 8-1 8-2 8-3
10-3 11-3 12-1 12-3 13-2 14-1 14-3 15-1
Page xv
boxed features
RESEARCH TODAY Looking at Sports from Five Sociological Perspectives 16
Visual Sociology 35 How Millennials View the Nation: Racial and Ethnic Vantage Points
61 Rum Springa: Raising Children Amish Style 78 Parental Monitoring of the Digital World 81 Disability as a Master Status 94 Twitter Networks: From Wildfires to Hurricanes 100 Debtors’ Jails in the Twenty-First Century 147 Does Crime Pay? 149 The Shrinking Middle Class 169 Taxes as Opportunity 174 Calculating Your Risk of Poverty 178 Hurricane Maria and the Puerto Rican Community 230 Measuring Discrimination Based on Sexual Identity 248 An Extraordinary Patriarchy: The Oneida Community 265 Transracial Adoption: The Experience of Children from Korea 273 The Church of Scientology: Religion or Quasi-Religion? 307 The Latino Political Voice 323 Affirmative Action 331 Health Care, Retail Style 349
1-2 3-1 3-4 3-5 5-3 5-5 6-2 9-1 9-2 9-3
10-2
©Ingram Publishing/Alamy Stock Photo
SOCIOLOGY IN THE GLOBAL COMMUNITY
Your Morning Cup of Coffee 19 Symbolizing 9/11 55 Life in the Global Village 63 Cultural Survival in Brazil 64 McDonald’s and the Worldwide Bureaucratization of Society 105 Disney World: A Postmodern Theme Park 111 The Global Disconnect 126 It’s All Relative: Appalachian Poverty and Congolese Affluence 193 Walking the Last Mile in Uganda: The Avon Approach 197 Getting Ahead Globally 203 The Aboriginal People of Australia 225
11-1 11-2 11-4 15-2 15-3 16-1
2-1 5-4 6-1 6-3
12-2
©Don Hammond/Design Pics
Women in Combat Worldwide 244 No Gender, Please: It’s Preschool! 245 The Head Scarf and the Veil: Complex Symbols 252 Population Policy in China 356 Environmental Refugees 362 Women’s Social Movements in South Korea, India, and Bangladesh
375
OUR WIRED WORLD Surveying Cell Phone Users 33
Becoming Social in a Gesellschaft 108 Inside the Bubble: Internet Search Filters 123 Apps for Global Refugees 129 Love Is in the Air and on the Web 269
14-2 16-2
16-3
3-2 4-1 7-1 7-4 8-4
10-1 13-1
©Eric Audras/ONOKY/Superstock
Politicking Online 327 Organizing for Controversy via Computer-Mediated Communication
377 The Internet’s Global Profile 385
SOCIOLOGY ON CAMPUS A Culture of Cheating? 58
Impression Management by Students 76 Binge Drinking 144 Packing Firearms on Campus 153 Student Debt 182 Bias in Awarding Scholarship Money 214 The Debate over Title IX 292
©Andersen Ross/Blend Images
TAKING SOCIOLOGY TO WORK Dave Eberbach, Associate Director, Iowa Institute for Community Alliances 38 Rakefet Avramovitz, Program Administrator, Child Care Law Center 79 Sarah Levy, Owner, S. Levy Foods 98 Lindsey Wallem, Social Media Consultant 125 Stephanie Vezzani, Special Agent, U.S. Secret Service 158 Jennifer Michals, Program Assistant, Center for Native American and Indigenous Research, Northwestern University 217 Diane Belcher Gray, Assistant Director of Volunteer Services, New River Community College 294 Joseph W. Drummond, Management Analyst, U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command 329
©Ingram Publishing
Page xvii
social policy sections
Chapter 2 Social Policy and Sociological Research: Studying Human Sexuality 41
Chapter 3 Social Policy and Culture: Bilingualism 64
Chapter 4 Social Policy and Sociological Research: Child Care around the World 86
Chapter 5 Social Policy and Organizations: The State of the Unions Worldwide 112
Chapter 6 Social Policy and the Media: Censorship 133
Chapter 7 Social Policy and Social Control: Gun Control 158
Chapter 8 Social Policy and Stratification: Executive Compensation 186
Chapter 9 Social Policy and Global Inequality: Rethinking Welfare in Europe and North America 204
Chapter 10 Social Policy and Racial and Ethnic Inequality: Global Refugee Crisis 234
Chapter 11 Social Policy and Gender Stratification: Workplace Sexual Harassment 256
Chapter 12 Social Policy and the Family: Family Leave Worldwide 278
Chapter 13 Social Policy and Education: Charter Schools 308
Chapter 14 Social Policy and the Economy: Microfinancing 334
Chapter 15 Social Policy and the Environment: Environmentalism 364
Chapter 16 Social Policy and Globalization: Transnationals 388
©Last Resort/Getty Images
maps Mapping Life Nationwide
Educational Level and Household Income in the United States 29 Percentage of People Who Speak a Language Other Than English at Home, by State 65 Labor Union Membership by State, 2018 112 The Status of State Legalization of Marijuana 146 The 50 States: Contrasts in Income and Poverty Levels 166 Minority Population by County 223 Average Salary for Teachers 295 Charter Schools 309 Percentage without Health Insurance 346
Mapping Life Worldwide
Countries with High Child Marriage Rates 52 Branding the Globe 121 Freedom on the Internet 134 Gross National Income per Capita 194 Global Peace Index 328 Global Terrorism Index 330
Page xviii
tracking sociological perspectives tables Major Sociological Perspectives 15
Sociological Perspectives on Culture 60
Theoretical Approaches to Development of the Self 77
Sociological Perspectives on Social Institutions 102
Sociological Perspectives on the Media 128
Sociological Perspectives on Deviance 152
Sociological Perspectives on Social Stratification 173
Sociological Perspectives on Global Inequality 201
Sociological Perspectives on Race and Ethnicity 220
Sociological Perspectives on Gender 251
Sociological Perspectives on the Family 267
Sociological Perspectives on Education 293
Sociological Perspectives on Religion 303
Sociological Perspectives on Health and Illness 344
Sociological Perspectives on Social Change 380
summing up tables Existing Sources Used in Sociological Research 36
Major Research Designs 37
Norms and Sanctions 56
Mead’s Stages of the Self 75
Comparison of Primary and Secondary Groups 97
Characteristics of a Bureaucracy 104
Comparison of the Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft 109
Stages of Sociocultural Evolution 110
Merton’s Deviance Theory 148
Major World Religions 298
Components of Religion 305
Characteristics of Ecclesiae, Denominations, Sects, and New Religious Movements 307
Characteristics of the Three Major Economic Systems 318
Contributions to Social Movement Theory 376
Page xix
Taking Sociology with You . . . Wherever You Go
Why Does Sociology Matter? Whether you’re a first-time student, someone who is returning to the classroom, or even an instructor leading a discussion, you’ve probably thought about that question. Sociologists examine society, from small-scale interactions to the broadest social changes, which can be daunting for any student to take in. Sociology: A Brief Introduction, Thirteenth Edition, bridges the essential sociological theories, research, and concepts and the everyday realities we all experience. The program highlights the distinctive ways in which sociologists explore human social behavior—and how their research findings can be used to help students think critically about the broader principles that guide their lives. In doing so, it helps students begin to think sociologically, using what they have learned to evaluate human interactions and institutions independently.
What do a police officer, a nurse, and a local business owner need to know about the community that they serve? It turns out quite a lot. And Sociology: A Brief Introduction is poised to give students the tools they need to take sociology with them as they pursue their studies and their careers, and as they get involved in their communities and the world at large. Its emphasis on real-world applications enables students to see the relevance of sociological concepts to contemporary issues and events as well as students’ everyday lives. In addition, the digital tools in Connect foster student preparedness for a more productive and engaging experience in class and better grades on exams.
Help Your Students Succeed with Connect
McGraw-Hill Connect® is an integrated educational platform that includes assignable and assessable quizzes, exercises, and interactive activities, all associated with learning objectives for Sociology: A Brief Introduction, Thirteenth Edition. Videos, interactive assessments, links to news articles about current issues with accompanying questions (“NewsFlash”), and scenario-based activities engage students and add real- world perspective to the introductory sociology course. In addition, printable, exportable reports show how well each student or section is performing on each course segment.
Here are some of the media-rich activities that will help your students succeed in the introductory sociology course:
In Their Shoes. In Their Shoes develops students’ sociological imagination by walking them through the situation, challenges, and crises in the character’s life. Covering topics such as “Deviance and Social Control,” “Racial and Ethnic Inequality,” and “Socialization and the Life Course,” students explore and navigate life choices.
Applying the Perspectives. In Applying the Perspectives, students
Page xx
examine a problem—global inequality, gender stratification, or family and intimate relationships—from three sociological perspectives and apply their critical thinking skills to align theories with the appropriate perspective.
Concept Clips. Concept Clips are animations designed to engage students and walk them through some of the more complex concepts in the course and conclude with assessment questions to demonstrate their understanding. Topics include research variables, functions of religion, and power and authority.
Mobile Interface. Put students first with Connect’s intuitive mobile
Page xxi
interface, which gives students and instructors flexible, convenient, anytime- anywhere access to all components of the Connect platform. It provides seamless integration of learning tools and places the most important priorities up front in a new “to-do” list with a calendar view across all Connect courses. Enjoy on-the-go access with the new mobile interface designed for optimal use of tablet functionality.
Provide a Smarter Text and Better Value with SmartBook Available within Connect, SmartBook® makes study time as productive and efficient as possible by identifying and closing knowledge gaps. SmartBook is powered by the proven LearnSmart® engine, which identifies what an individual student knows and doesn’t know based on the student’s confidence level, responses to questions, and other factors.
SmartBook builds an optimal, personalized learning path for each student, so students spend less time on concepts they already understand and more time on those they don’t. As a student engages with SmartBook, the reading experience continuously adapts by highlighting the most impactful content a student needs to learn at that moment in time. This ensures that every minute spent with SmartBook is returned to the student as the most value-added minute possible. The result? More confidence, better grades, and greater success. New to this edition, SmartBook is now optimized for cell phones and tablets and accessible for students with disabilities using interactive features. Just like our new eBook and ReadAnywhere App, SmartBook is available both online and offline.
Access Performance Data Just in Time
Connect Insight® is Connect’s one-of-a-kind visual analytics dashboard, available for both instructors and students, that provides at-a-glance information regarding student performance, which is immediately actionable. By presenting assignment, assessment, and topical performance results, together with a time metric that is easily visible for aggregate or individual results, Connect Insight gives the user the ability to take a just-in-time approach to teaching and learning, which was never before available. Connect Insight presents data that empowers students and helps instructors improve class performance in a way that is efficient and effective.
Page xxii
Prepare Students for Higher-Level Thinking Aimed at the higher level of Bloom’s taxonomy, Power of Process for Sociology helps students improve critical thinking skills and allows instructors to assess these skills efficiently and effectively in an online environment. Through Connect, preloaded readings are available for instructors to assign. Using a scaffolded framework such as understanding, synthesizing, and analyzing, Power of Process moves students toward higher-level thinking and analysis.
What’s New? Changes to the Thirteenth Edition reflect new research findings, updated statistics, and hot topics and issues. Revisions to the print and digital program were also guided by student performance data anonymously collected from the thousands of students who have used SmartBook with Sociology: A Brief
Introduction. Because virtually every text paragraph is tied to several questions that students answer while using LearnSmart, the specific concepts that students are having most difficulty with can be pinpointed through empirical data.
Chapter 1: Understanding Sociology
Chapter-opening excerpt based on Outcasts United, a sociological study about a youth soccer team made up of immigrants in suburban Georgia Cartoon illustrating the increasing importance of globalization Enhanced discussion of sociological study of episodes of violence and hatred, based on Charlottesville march Expanded and updated discussion of sociological study of the aftermath of hurricanes and other natural disasters
Chapter 2: Sociological Research
“Thinking Critically” questions about the effect of operational definitions on research results and value neutrality “Taking Sociology with You” question about developing a research project Extensive discussion of the use of sociological data to help the children of incarcerated adults
Chapter 3: Culture
Chapter-opening photo of a woman from the Mursi tribe in Ethiopia Photo and caption of Confederate statue being removed, showing the conflicting meaning of symbols “Thinking Critically” question about communication as cultural capital “Research Today” box: “How Millennials View the Nation: Racial and Ethnic Vantage Points” Updated figure, “Countries with High Child Marriage Rates,” and added “Think about It” question
Chapter 4: Socialization and the Life Course
Extensive discussion of a recent sociological experiment involving gender roles and expectations “Thinking Critically” questions about public policy implications of early childhood research, comparison of Mead’s and Piaget’s cognitive stages, anticipatory socialization “Research Today” box: “Parental Monitoring of the Digital World,” including bar graph, “Parental Monitoring of Teenagers’ Online Activity” Enhanced and updated comparison of child care in the United States vs. other countries Cartoon about senior citizens’ attitudes toward aging
Chapter 5: Social Interaction, Groups, and Social Structure
Enhanced discussion of Zimbardo prison experiment in chapter-opening vignette, with link to Black Lives Matter “Research Today” box: “Twitter Networks: From Wildfires to Hurricanes,” with photo, on the use of social media networks for disaster preparedness Discussion of the role of humor in social interaction Figures 5-2, “The Elements of Social Structure: An Overview”; and 5-3, “Mapping Life Nationwide: Labor Union Membership by State, 2018” Enhanced and expanded discussion of the influence of race and gender on achieved status, using the James Blake case as an example Cartoon illustrating hierarchy of authority in bureaucracies
Chapter 6: Mass Media and Social Media
Chapter-opening excerpt from Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age, a study of the effects of the overuse of social media Enhanced discussion of infiltration of the social media “bubble” for political purposes Table 6-1, “Celebrity Status, as Measured by Number of Global Google Searches,” including “Think about It” question Expanded discussion of suppression of the media in authoritarian regimes Enhanced and updated discussion of the digital divide, with photo Updated discussion of feminist perspective on access to cell phones Updated and expanded “Our Wired World” box, now titled “Apps for Global Refugees” Revised and expanded Figure 6-3: “Who Uses Social Media?” and Figure 6-4, “Internet and Social Media Penetration in Selected Counties” Social Policy section: “Censorship”
Chapter 7: Deviance, Crime, and Social Control
Images to illustrate the relationship between deviance and celebrity status (with “Think about It” question), how the definition of deviance varies widely in different places, and the prevalence of white-collar crime (cartoon) Enhanced discussion of cybercrime in reference to the 2016 election Expanded discussion of public perception of crime as a growing threat, despite statistics to the contrary Social Policy section: “Gun Control,” including cartoon
Page xxiii
Chapter 8: Stratification and Social Mobility in the United States
Cartoon illustrating struggles of the middle class Cartoon in Social Policy section on differences of perception between rich and poor “Research Today” boxes: “Taxes as Opportunity” and “Calculating Your Risk of Poverty” Enhanced discussion of calculating the effects of unpaid women’s work on determining poverty rate Revised and expanded discussion of net worth, race, and ethnicity Expanded discussion of the longevity gap between the affluent and the poor Enhanced and updated discussion of intergenerational mobility
Chapter 9: Global Inequality
“Sociology in the Global Community” box, “Getting Ahead Globally” Updated and expanded overview of global poverty Updated discussion of United Nations Millennium Development Goals In Social Policy section, updated and expanded discussion of corporate welfare and the social safety net in European countries Revised Self-Quiz with new question and distractors
Chapter 10: Racial and Ethnic Inequality
Chapter-opening excerpt from Asian-American Dreams, a memoir about discrimination against Asian Americans “Taking Sociology to Work” box: Jennifer Michals, Program Assistant, Center for Native American and Indigenous Research, Northwestern University “Sociology on Campus” box, “Bias in Awarding Scholarship Money” Discussion of discrimination within the sharing economy Discussion and photo illustrating the effects of the Rohinga genocide in Myanmar “Research Today” box, “Hurricane Maria and the Puerto Rican Community” Enhanced discussion of Jewish American assimilation, with photo
Chapter 11: Stratification by Gender and Sexuality
Chapter-opening excerpt from Everyday Sexism: The Project That Inspired a Worldwide Movement, a study of the preponderance of sexism in daily life Key term treatment for intersectionality and expanded discussion of the concept “Research Today” box, “Measuring Discrimination Based on Sexual Identity” Social Policy section on workplace sexual harassment
Chapter 12: The Family and Household Diversity
“Research Today” box, “An Extraordinary Patriarchy: The Oneida Community” Expansion of coverage of interactionist perspective to emphasize the growing diversity of family styles Updated coverage of online dating as a part of courtship and mate selection
Chapter 13: Education and Religion
Enhanced discussion of LGBQT student subcultures Photo illustrating religion’s function of providing social support “Research Today” box, “The Church of Scientology: Religion or Quasi- Religion?” Key Term treatment for quasi-religion
Chapter 14: Government and the Economy
Updated and enhanced background information about world inequality and people’s reactions to it Figure 14-7, “Increasing Diversity in the U.S. Labor Force,” with “Think about It” question Revised and updated discussion of use of social media in politics Expanded and updated coverage of political participation in the United States Expanded discussion of use of militarized drones, with photos Updated discussion of deindustrialization and its effects on politics
Chapter 15: Health, Population, and the Environment
Enhanced coverage of relationship between health insurance and income level Major section on Gender Identity under Social Epidemiology and Health Updated information about the Affordable Care Act Coverage of water pollution updated to include contamination of water in Flint, Michigan, with photo Expanded coverage of race and pollution Discussion of the Paris Climate Accords “Think about It” question about population change over time
Page xxiv
Chapter 16: Social Change in the Global Community
Photos of January 2018 Power to the Polls march to illustrate political participation, women attending a soccer match in Saudi Arabia to illustrate social change, military and civilian drones to illustrate effects of new technology Key Term treatment for artificial intelligence and digitalization “Sociology in the Global Community” box expanded to include women’s social movements in Bangladesh Extended example of introduction of the HPV vaccine to illustrate culture lag Figures 16-4, “Digital Skill Levels of Select Occupations”; 16-6, “Average Willingness to Migrate Abroad Permanently, 2009 and 2016”; 16-7, “Migrants as a Percentage of Total Population in Selected Countries, 2015” Major section on artificial intelligence and its effects on society
Teaching Resources Instructor’s Manual. The Instructor’s Manual includes detailed chapter outlines and chapter summaries; learning objectives; a chapter-by-chapter bulleted list of new content; key terms; essay questions; and critical thinking questions. PowerPoint Slides. Now accessibility compliant, PowerPoint Slides include bulleted lecture points, figures, and maps. They can be used as is or modified to meet the instructor’s individual needs. Test Bank. The Test Bank includes multiple-choice, true-false, and essay questions for every chapter. TestGen software allows the instructor to create customized exams using either publisher-supplied test items or the instructor’s own questions.
McGraw-Hill Create® is a self-service website that allows you to create customized course materials using McGraw-Hill Education’s comprehensive,
cross-disciplinary content and digital products. You can even access third- party content such as readings, articles, cases, videos, and more.
Select and arrange content to fit your course scope and sequence. Upload your own course materials. Select the best format for your students—print or eBook. Select and personalize your cover. Edit and update your materials as often as you’d like.
Experience how McGraw-Hill Education’s Create empowers you to teach your students your way and go to http://create.mheducation.com to register today.
McGraw-Hill Campus® is a groundbreaking service that puts world-class digital learning resources just a click away for all faculty and students. All faculty—whether or not they use a McGraw-Hill title—can instantly browse, search, and access the entire library of McGraw-Hill instructional resources and services, including eBooks, test banks, PowerPoint slides, animations and learning objects—from any Learning Management System (LMS), at no additional cost to an institution. Users also have single sign-on access to McGraw-Hill digital platforms, including Connect, Create and Tegrity, a fully automated lecture capture solution.
Acknowledgments Author Acknowledgments The Thirteenth Edition of Sociology: A Brief Introduction reflects the input of many talented individuals. Since 2010, Elaine Silverstein has played a most significant role in the development of my introductory sociology books. Fortunately for me, in this Thirteenth Edition, Elaine has once again been responsible for the smooth integration of all changes and updates.
This edition continues to reflect the many insightful suggestions made by reviewers of the 13 hardcover editions and 12 brief paperback editions.
As is evident from these acknowledgments, the preparation of a textbook is truly a team effort. The most valuable member of this effort continues to be my wife, Sandy. She provides the support so necessary in my creative and scholarly activities.
I have had the good fortune to introduce students to sociology for many years. These students have been enormously helpful in spurring on my sociological imagination. In ways I can fully appreciate but cannot fully acknowledge, their questions in class and queries in the hallway have found their way into this textbook.
Richard T. Schaefer [email protected]
Academic Reviewers
This current edition has benefited from constructive and thorough evaluations provided by sociologists from both two-year and four-year institutions. Adriana Bohm, Delaware County Community College Tammie Foltz, Des Moines Area Community College Claire Giesen, Delgado Community College Mehdi Haghshenas, University of Texas Lucy Hurston, Manchester Community College Margaret Jendrek, Miami University–Oxford
Laurie J. Linhart, Des Moines Area Community College Joseph Oaster, Harcum College Andrew Rochus, Western Virginia University at Parkersburg Amy Ruedisueli, Tidewater Community College, Virginia Beach Okori Uneke, Winston-Salem State University Amanda Vandivier, Frostburg State University Gregory Zachrison, Massosoit Community College
Page 1
1 Understanding Sociology
©Cathy Yeulet/123RF One of the things sociologists study is how people organize themselves into groups to perform tasks necessary to society. In California, volunteers pick up debris for eventual recycling.
‣ INSIDE
What Is Sociology?
Page 2
What Is Sociological Theory? The Development of Sociology Major Theoretical Perspectives Taking Sociology with You Appendix: Careers in Sociology
Have you ever reacted totally differently from the people around you because of different life experiences?
Journalist Warren St. John shows how people with varied backgrounds struggle to adjust to their new environment and to each other.
“On a cool spring afternoon at a soccer eld in northern Georgia, two teams of teenage boys were going through their pregame warm-ups when the heavens began to shake. The eld had been quiet save the sounds of soccer balls thumping against forefeet and the rustling of the balls against the nylon nets that hung from the goals. But as the rumble grew louder, all motion stopped as boys from both teams looked quizzically skyward. Soon a cluster of darts appeared in the gap of sky between the pine trees on the horizon and the cottony clumps of cloud vapor overhead. It was a precision ying squadron of ghter jets, performing at an air show miles away in Atlanta. The aircraft banked in close formation in the direction of the eld and came closer, so that the boys could now make out the markings on the wings and the white helmets of the pilots in the cockpits. Then with an earthshaking roar deep enough to rattle the change in your pocket, the jets split in different directions like an exploding rework, their contrails carving the sky into giant wedges.
©Ira C. Robert
On the eld below, the two groups of boys watched the spectacle with craned necks, and from different perspectives.
On the eld below, the two groups of boys watched the spectacle with craned necks, and from different perspectives. The players of the home team—a group of thirteen- and fourteen-year-old boys from the nearby Atlanta suburbs playing with the North Atlanta Soccer Association—gestured to the sky and wore expressions of awe.
The boys at the other end of the eld were members of an all-refugee soccer team called the Fugees [as in “reFugees”]. Many had actually seen the machinery of war in action, and all had felt its awful consequences firsthand. There were Sudanese players on the team whose villages had been bombed by old Russian-made Antonov bombers own by the Sudanese Air Force, and Liberians who’d lived through barrages of mortar re that pierced the roofs of their neighbors’ homes, taking out whole families. As the jets ew by the eld, several members of the Fugees inched.
This was the rst time I’d ever seen the Fugees play. I’d shown up knowing little about the team other than that the players were refugees and the coach a woman, and that the team was based in a town called Clarkston. In a little more
than a decade, the process of refugee resettlement had transformed Clarkston from a simple southern town into one of the most diverse communities in America. And yet few in Atlanta, let alone in the world beyond, had taken
notice.” Source: St. John, Warren T. Outcasts United. New York, NY: Spiegel & Grau Trade Paperbacks, 2009. pp. 1–2, 6.
In Outcasts United, journalist Warren St. John takes us into the social world of a soccer team, a world composed of refugees who find themselves in a suburban Georgia town of under 8,000 people about 10 miles from Atlanta. Many of the “Fugees” have escaped violence in their home countries. Now they are making the United States their home, with all the adjustments that radical change entails. While they adapt to their new environment, their neighbors must adapt to having the refugees among them. And their competitors on the soccer field must learn what it means to live in a diverse, changing society.
We cannot assume that everyone we meet or communicate with, even when we are young, will be just like ourselves. Today, we learn to work together with people who are very different, and we sometimes struggle to create a sense of community despite our differences. While the diversity in Clarkston may be greater than that in many towns, learning to work in new and changing social environments is critical to an individual’s and the entire society’s success.
As a field of study, sociology is extremely broad in scope. You will see throughout this book the range of topics sociologists investigate—from immigration to suicide, from Amish society to global economic patterns, from peer pressure to genetic engineering. Sociology looks at how others influence our behavior; how major social institutions like the government, religion, and the economy affect us; and how we ourselves affect other individuals, groups, and even organizations.
How did sociology develop? In what ways does it differ from other social sciences? This chapter will explore the nature of sociology as both a field of inquiry and an exercise of the “sociological imagination.” We’ll look at the discipline as a science and consider its relationship to other social sciences. We’ll meet four pioneering thinkers—Émile Durkheim, Max Weber, Karl
Page 3
Marx, and W. E. B. DuBois—and examine the theoretical perspectives that grew out of their work. We’ll note some of the practical applications for sociological theory and research. Finally, we’ll see how sociology helps us to develop a sociological imagination. For those students interested in exploring career opportunities in sociology, the chapter closes with a special appendix.
What Is Sociology? “What has sociology got to do with me or with my life?” As a student, you might well have asked this question when you signed up for your introductory sociology course. To answer it, consider these points: Are you influenced by what you see on television? Do you use the Internet? Did you vote in the last election? Are you familiar with binge drinking on campus? Do you use alternative medicine? These are just a few of the everyday life situations described in this book that sociology can shed light on. But as the opening excerpt indicates, sociology also looks at large social issues. We use sociology to investigate why thousands of jobs have moved from the United States to developing nations, what social forces promote prejudice, what leads someone to join a social movement and work for social change, how access to computer technology can reduce social inequality, and why relationships between men and women in Seattle differ from those in Singapore.
Sociology is, simply, the scientific study of social behavior and human groups. It focuses on social relationships; how those relationships influence people’s behavior; and how societies, the sum total of those relationships, develop and change.
The Sociological Imagination In attempting to understand social behavior, sociologists rely on a particular type of critical thinking. A leading sociologist, C. Wright Mills, described such thinking as the sociological imagination—an awareness of the relationship between an individual and the wider society, both today and in the past (Mills [1959] 2000a). This awareness allows all of us (not just sociologists) to comprehend the links between our immediate, personal social settings and the remote, impersonal social world that surrounds and helps to shape us.
A key element in the sociological imagination is the ability to view one’s own society as an outsider would, rather than only from the perspective of personal experiences and cultural biases. Consider something as simple as sporting events. On college campuses in the United States, thousands of students cheer well-trained football players. In parts of South America and the Caribbean, spectators gather around two cages, each holding a finch. The covers are lifted, and the owner of the first bird to sing 50 songs wins a trophy, a cash prize, and great prestige. In speed singing as in football, eager spectators debate the merits of their favorites and bet on the outcome of the events. Yet what is considered a normal sporting event in one part of the world is considered unusual in another part (Rueb 2015).
The sociological imagination allows us to go beyond personal experiences and observations to understand broader public issues. Divorce, for example, is unquestionably a personal hardship for a husband and wife who split apart. However, C. Wright Mills advocated using the sociological imagination to view divorce not as simply an individual’s personal problem but rather as a societal concern. Using this perspective, we can see that an increase in the divorce rate actually redefines a major social institution—the family. Today’s households frequently include stepparents and half-siblings whose parents have divorced and remarried. Through the complexities of the blended family, this private concern becomes a public issue that affects schools, government agencies, businesses, and religious institutions.
The sociological imagination is an empowering tool. It allows us to look beyond a limited understanding of human behavior to see the world and its people in a new way and through a broader lens than we might otherwise use. It may be as simple as understanding why a roommate prefers country music to hip-hop, or it may open up a whole different way of understanding other populations in the world. For example, in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, many citizens wanted to understand how Muslims throughout the world perceived their country, and why. From time to time this textbook will offer you the chance to exercise your sociological imagination in a variety of situations.
Use Your Sociological Imagination You are walking down the street in your city or hometown. In looking around you, you can’t help noticing that half or more of the people you see are
Page 4
overweight. How do you explain your observation? If you were C. Wright Mills, how do you think you would explain it?
Sociology and the Social Sciences Is sociology a science? The term science refers to the body of knowledge obtained by methods based on systematic observation. Just like other scientific disciplines, sociology involves the organized, systematic study of phenomena (in this case, human behavior) in order to enhance understanding. All scientists, whether studying mushrooms or murderers, attempt to collect precise information through methods of study that are as objective as possible. They rely on careful recording of observations and accumulation of data.
Of course, there is a great difference between sociology and physics, between psychology and astronomy. For this reason, the sciences are commonly divided into natural and social sciences. Natural science is the study of the physical features of nature and the ways in which they interact and change. Astronomy, biology, chemistry, geology, and physics are all natural sciences. Social science is the study of the social features of humans and the ways in which they interact and change. The social sciences include sociology, anthropology, economics, history, psychology, and political science.
These social science disciplines have a common focus on the social behavior of people, yet each has a particular orientation. Anthropologists usually study past cultures and preindustrial societies that continue today, as well as the origins of humans. Economists explore the ways in which people produce and exchange goods and services, along with money and other resources. Historians are concerned with the peoples and events of the past and their significance for us today. Political scientists study international relations, the workings of government, and the exercise of power and authority. Psychologists investigate personality and individual behavior. So what do sociologists focus on? They study the influence that society has on people’s attitudes and behavior and the ways in which people interact and shape society. Because humans are social animals, sociologists examine our social relationships scientifically. The range of the relationships they investigate is vast, as the current list of sections in the American Sociological Association suggests (Table 1-1).
Source: “ASA Sections,” American Sociological Association, 2017. (American Sociological Association 2017a) The range of sociological issues is very broad. For example, sociologists who belong to the Animals and Society section of the ASA may study the animal rights movement; those who belong to the Sexualities section may study global sex workers or the gay, bisexual, and transgender movements. Economic sociologists may investigate globalization or consumerism, among many other topics.
©RawPixel.com/Shutterstock Sociology is the scientific study of social behavior and human groups.
Let’s consider how different social scientists might study the impact of the global recession that began in 2008. Historians would stress the pattern of long-term fluctuations in world markets. Economists would discuss the roles played by government, the private sector, and the world monetary system. Psychologists would study individual cases of emotional stress among workers, investors, and business owners. And political scientists would study the degree of cooperation among nations—or lack of it—in seeking economic solutions.
What approach would sociologists take? They might note a change in marital patterns in the United States. Since the recession began, the median age of first marriage has risen to 28.7 years for men and 26.7 years for women. Sociologists might also observe that today, fewer people are making that trip to the altar than in the past. If the U.S. marriage rate had remained the same as it was in 2006, about 4 million more Americans would have married by 2010.
Page 5
Similarly, sociologists might evaluate the recession’s impact on education. In the United States, private school enrollment from elementary through high school declined from 13.6 percent in 2006 to 12.8 percent in 2010 as families cut back on nonessential expenditures. Sociologists might even consider the recession’s effect on environmental actions, such as carpooling. In all but 1 of the 50 largest metropolitan areas in the United States (New Orleans), the percentage of working people aged 16 to 64 dropped significantly during the recession. When friends and co-workers are laid off, carpools shrink and more people end up driving to work alone (El Nasser and Overberg 2011).
Sociologists would take a similar approach to studying episodes of extreme violence and hatred. In 2017, the nation was shocked by the open display of pro-Nazi and pro-Klu Klux Klan sympathy by marchers in Charlottesville, Virginia, at a “Unite the Right” rally protesting the removal of a statue of Confederate leader General Robert E. Lee. Months earlier, a lone gunman with leftist leanings opened fire at a Republican congressional baseball practice, shooting four members of Congress. Observers struggled to explain these individual and collective events by placing them in a larger social context. For sociologists in particular, these events raised numerous issues and topics for study, including the role of social media as a new platform for extremist thought, growing anger against government and people in authority, the gun control debate, and the inadequacy of the nation’s mental health system. Extensive sociological research is already under way concerning the effects of 2017 hurricanes Harvey and Irma.
©Justin Sullivan/Getty Images As the nation struggled to recover from a deep and lengthy recession, recently laid-off workers jostled the long-term unemployed at a crowded job fair in San Francisco. Sociologists use a variety of approaches to assess the full impact of economic change on society.
Besides doing research, sociologists have a long history of advising government agencies on how to respond to disasters. Certainly the poverty of the Gulf Coast region complicated the challenge of evacuating New Orleans in 2005. With Hurricane Katrina bearing down on the Gulf Coast, thousands of poor inner-city residents had no automobiles or other available means of escaping the storm. Added to that difficulty was the high incidence of disability in the area. New Orleans ranked second among the nation’s 70 largest cities in the proportion of people over age 65 who are disabled—56 percent. Moving wheelchair-bound residents to safety requires specially equipped vehicles, to say nothing of handicap-accessible accommodations in public shelters. Clearly, officials must consider these factors in developing evacuation plans (Bureau of the Census 2005b).
Sociological analysis of the disaster did not end when the floodwaters receded. Indeed, several steps were taken that improve the response to hurricanes Harvey and Irma, which hit Texas and Florida in 2017. These included:
Page 6
Requiring communities to develop workable disaster response plans in advance. Delivering emergency supplies to secure holding areas before the storms struck. Permitting prior approval for taking action rather than requiring plan submission after the disaster. Identifying emergency shelters that take pets to avoid people remaining at home to safeguard their pets. Ending federal prohibition against accepting volunteer responders, especially when the scope of the disaster grows greater.
Tragically, many Katrina victims had relocated to Houston, where they then had to be sheltered again after Harvey struck in 2017, but they often expressed the realization that disaster response had improved. However, just a month later the slow response in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria on Puerto Rico, with most of the island left without clean water, power, or cell phone service for weeks, left many scholars looking for still further ways to improve both disaster preparedness and response (Carey 2017; Philips 2017).
Throughout this textbook, you will see how sociologists develop theories and conduct research to study and better understand societies. And you will be encouraged to use your sociological imagination to examine the United States (and other societies) from the viewpoint of a respectful but questioning outsider.
Sociology and Common Sense Sociology focuses on the study of human behavior. Yet we all have experience with human behavior and at least some knowledge of it. All of us might well have theories about why people become homeless, for example. Our theories and opinions typically come from common sense—that is, from our experiences and conversations, from what we read, from what we see on television, and so forth.
In our daily lives, we rely on common sense to get us through many unfamiliar situations. However, this commonsense knowledge, while sometimes accurate, is not always reliable, because it rests on commonly held beliefs rather than on systematic analysis of facts. It was once considered
common sense to accept that the earth was flat—a view rightly questioned by Pythagoras and Aristotle. Incorrect commonsense notions are not just a part of the distant past; they remain with us today.
Contrary to the common notion that women tend to be chatty compared to men, for instance, researchers have found little difference between the sexes in terms of their talkativeness. Over a five-year period they placed unobtrusive microphones on 396 college students in various fields, at campuses in Mexico as well as the United States. They found that both men and women spoke about 16,000 words per day (Mehl et al. 2007).
Similarly, common sense tells us that today, violent crime holds communities on the border between the United States and Mexico in a kind of death grip, creating an atmosphere of lawlessness reminiscent of the old Wild West. Based on televised news stories and on concerns expressed by elected officials throughout the southwestern United States, this assertion may sound reasonable; however, it is not true. Although some communities in Mexico have fallen under the control of drug cartels, the story is different on the U.S. side of the border. All available crime data—including murder, extortion, robbery, and kidnapping rates, whether reported or documented in victim surveys—show that in the hundred-mile-deep border area stretching from San Diego to Brownsville, Texas, crime rates are significantly lower than in similar U.S. cities outside the area. Furthermore, the crime rate has been dropping faster near the border than in other similar-size U.S. communities for at least the last 15 years (Gillum 2011; Gomez et al. 2011).
Like other social scientists, sociologists do not accept something as a fact because “everyone knows it.” Instead, each piece of information must be tested and recorded, then analyzed in relation to other data. Sociologists rely on scientific studies in order to describe and understand a social environment. At times, the findings of sociologists may seem like common sense, because they deal with familiar facets of everyday life. The difference is that such findings have been tested by researchers. Common sense now tells us that the earth is round, but this particular commonsense notion is based on centuries of scientific work that began with the breakthroughs made by Pythagoras and Aristotle.
thinking CRITICALLY
What aspects of the social and work environment in a fast-food restaurant would be of particular interest to a sociologist? How would the sociological imagination help in analyzing the topic?
What Is Sociological Theory? Why do people commit suicide? One traditional commonsense answer is that people inherit the desire to kill themselves. Another view is that sunspots drive people to take their lives. These explanations may not seem especially convincing to contemporary researchers, but they represent beliefs widely held as recently as 1900.
Sociologists are not particularly interested in why any one individual commits suicide; they are more concerned with identifying the social forces that systematically cause some people to take their own lives. In order to undertake this research, sociologists develop a theory that offers a general explanation of suicidal behavior.
We can think of theories as attempts to explain events, forces, materials, ideas, or behavior in a comprehensive manner. In sociology, a theory is a set of statements that seeks to explain problems, actions, or behavior. An effective theory may have both explanatory and predictive power. That is, it can help us to see the relationships among seemingly isolated phenomena, as well as to understand how one type of change in an environment leads to other changes.
The World Health Organization (2010) estimates that almost a million people die from suicide every year. More than a hundred years ago, a sociologist tried to look at suicide data scientifically. Émile Durkheim ([1897] 1951) developed a highly original theory about the relationship between suicide and social factors. Durkheim was primarily concerned not with the personalities of individual suicide victims, but rather with suicide rates and how they varied from country to country. As a result, when he looked at the number of reported suicides in France, England, and Denmark in 1869, he also noted the total population of each country in order to determine the rate of suicide in each nation. He found that whereas England had only 67 reported suicides per million inhabitants, France had 135 per million and Denmark had 277 per million. The question then became “Why did Denmark have a comparatively high rate of reported suicide?”
Page 7
Durkheim went much deeper into his investigation of suicide rates. The result was his landmark work Suicide, published in 1897. Durkheim refused to accept unproved explanations regarding suicide, including the beliefs that inherited tendencies or cosmic forces caused such deaths. Instead, he focused on social factors, such as the cohesiveness or lack of cohesiveness of religious, social, and occupational groups.
Durkheim’s research suggested that suicide, although it is a solitary act, is related to group life. He found that people without religious affiliations had a higher suicide rate than those who were affiliated; the unmarried had much higher rates than married people; and soldiers had a higher rate than civilians. In addition, there seemed to be higher rates of suicide in times of peace than in times of war and revolution, and in times of economic instability and recession rather than in times of prosperity. Durkheim concluded that the suicide rates of a society reflected the extent to which people were or were not integrated into the group life of the society.
Use Your Sociological Imagination If you were Durkheim’s successor in his research on suicide, how would you investigate the factors that may explain the increase in suicide rates among people age 55 and older in the United States today?
Émile Durkheim, like many other social scientists, developed a theory to explain how individual behavior can be understood within a social context. He pointed out the influence of groups and societal forces on what had always been viewed as a highly personal act. Clearly, Durkheim offered a more scientific explanation for the causes of suicide than that of inherited tendencies or sunspots. His theory has predictive power, since it suggests that suicide rates will rise or fall in conjunction with certain social and economic changes.
©Digital Vision/Getty Images
Of course, a theory—even the best of theories—is not a final statement about human behavior. Durkheim’s theory of suicide is no exception. Sociologists continue to examine factors that contribute to differences in suicide rates around the world and to a particular society’s rate of suicide. In Las Vegas, for example, sociologists have observed that the chances of dying by suicide are strikingly high—twice as high as in the United States as a whole. Noting Durkheim’s emphasis on the relationship between suicide and social isolation, researchers have suggested that Las Vegas’s rapid growth and constant influx of tourists have undermined the community’s sense of permanence, even among longtime residents. Although gambling—or more accurately, losing while gambling—may seem a likely precipitating factor in suicides there, careful study of the data has allowed researchers to dismiss that explanation. What happens in Vegas may stay in Vegas, but the sense of community cohesiveness that the rest of the country enjoys may be lacking (Wray et al. 2008, 2011).
thinking CRITICALLY Can you think of any other explanation for the high suicide rate in Las Vegas? Does that explanation agree with Durkheim’s theory?
The Development of Sociology People have always been curious about sociological matters—how we get
Page 8
along with others, what we do for a living, whom we select as our leaders. Philosophers and religious authorities of ancient and medieval societies made countless observations about human behavior. They did not test or verify those observations scientifically; nevertheless, their observations often became the foundation for moral codes. Several of these early social philosophers correctly predicted that a systematic study of human behavior would emerge one day. Beginning in the 19th century, European theorists made pioneering contributions to the development of a science of human behavior.
Early Thinkers
Auguste Comte The 19th century was an unsettling time in France. The French monarchy had been deposed in the revolution of 1789, and Napoleon had suffered defeat in his effort to conquer Europe. Amid this chaos, philosophers considered how society might be improved. Auguste Comte (1798–1857), credited with being the most influential of the philosophers of the early 1800s, believed that a theoretical science of society and a systematic investigation of behavior were needed to improve society. He coined the term sociology to apply to the science of human behavior.
Writing in the 1800s, Comte feared that the excesses of the French Revolution had permanently impaired France’s stability. Yet he hoped that the systematic study of social behavior would eventually lead to more rational human interactions. In Comte’s hierarchy of the sciences, sociology was at the top. He called it the “queen,” and its practitioners “scientist- priests.” This French theorist did not simply give sociology its name; he presented a rather ambitious challenge to the fledgling discipline.
Harriet Martineau Scholars learned of Comte’s works largely through translations by the English sociologist Harriet Martineau (1802–1876). But Martineau was a pathbreaker in her own right: she offered insightful observations of the customs and social practices of both her native Britain and the United States. Martineau’s book Society in America ([1837] 1962) examined religion, politics, child rearing, and immigration in the young nation.
It gave special attention to social class distinctions and to such factors as gender and race. Martineau ([1838] 1989) also wrote the first book on sociological methods.
©Georgios Kollidas/Alamy Stock Photo Harriet Martineau, an early pioneer of sociology who studied social behavior both in her native England and in the United States. Martineau proposed some of the methods still used by sociologists, including systematic observation.
Martineau’s writings emphasized the impact that the economy, law, trade, health, and population could have on social problems. She spoke out in favor of the rights of women, the emancipation of slaves, and religious tolerance. Later in life, deafness did not keep her from being an activist. In Martineau’s ([1837] 1962) view, intellectuals and scholars should not simply offer
observations of social conditions; they should act on their convictions in a manner that will benefit society. That is why Martineau conducted research on the nature of female employment and pointed to the need for further investigation of the issue (Deegan 2003; Hill and Hoecker-Drysdale 2001).
Herbert Spencer Another important early contributor to the discipline of sociology was Herbert Spencer (1820–1903). A relatively prosperous Victorian Englishman, Spencer (unlike Martineau) did not feel compelled to correct or improve society; instead, he merely hoped to understand it better. Drawing on Charles Darwin’s study On the Origin of Species, Spencer applied the concept of evolution of the species to societies in order to explain how they change, or evolve, over time. Similarly, he adapted Darwin’s evolutionary view of the “survival of the fittest” by arguing that it is “natural” that some people are rich while others are poor.
Spencer’s approach to societal change was extremely popular in his lifetime. Unlike Comte, Spencer suggested that since societies are bound to change eventually, one need not be highly critical of present social arrangements or work actively for social change. This viewpoint appealed to many influential people in England and the United States who had a vested interest in the status quo and were suspicious of social thinkers who endorsed change.
Émile Durkheim Émile Durkheim made many pioneering contributions to sociology, including his important theoretical work on suicide. The son of a rabbi, Durkheim (1858–1917) was educated in both France and Germany. He established an impressive academic reputation and was appointed one of the first professors of sociology in France. Above all, Durkheim will be remembered for his insistence that behavior must be understood within a larger social context, not just in individualistic terms.
To give one example of this emphasis, Durkheim ([1912] 2001) developed a fundamental thesis to help explain all forms of society. Through intensive study of the Arunta, an Australian tribe, he focused on the functions that religion performed and underscored the role of group life in defining what we consider to be religion. Durkheim concluded that like other forms of group
Page 9
behavior, religion reinforces a group’s solidarity. Another of Durkheim’s main interests was the consequences of work in
modern societies. In his view, the growing division of labor industrial societies, as workers became much more specialized in their tasks, led to what he called “anomie.” Anomie refers to the loss of direction felt in a society when social control of individual behavior has become ineffective. Often, the state of anomie occurs during a time of profound social change, when people have lost their sense of purpose or direction. In a period of anomie, people are so confused and unable to cope with the new social environment that they may resort to suicide.
Durkheim was concerned about the dangers that alienation, loneliness, and isolation might pose for modern industrial societies. He shared Comte’s belief that sociology should provide direction for social change. As a result, he advocated the creation of new social groups—mediators between the individual’s family and the state—that would provide a sense of belonging for members of huge, impersonal societies. Unions would be an example of such groups.
Like many other sociologists, Durkheim did not limit his interests to one aspect of social behavior. Later in this book we will consider his thinking on crime and punishment, religion, and the workplace. Few sociologists have had such a dramatic impact on so many different areas within the discipline.
Max Weber Another important early theorist was Max Weber (pronounced VAY-ber). Born in Germany, Weber (1864–1920) studied legal and economic history, but gradually developed an interest in sociology. Eventually, he became a professor at various German universities. Weber taught his students that they should employ verstehen (pronounced fair-SHTAY-en), the German word for “understanding” or “insight,” in their intellectual work. He pointed out that we cannot analyze our social behavior by the same type of objective criteria we use to measure weight or temperature. To fully comprehend behavior, we must learn the subjective meanings people attach to their actions—how they themselves view and explain their behavior.
©Gary Conner/Getty Images
For example, suppose that a sociologist was studying the social ranking of individuals in a fraternity. Weber would expect the researcher to employ verstehen to determine the significance of the fraternity’s social hierarchy for its members. The researcher might examine the effects of athleticism or grades or social skills or seniority on standing within the fraternity. He or she would seek to learn how the fraternity members relate to other members of higher or lower status. While investigating these questions, the researcher would take into account people’s emotions, thoughts, beliefs, and attitudes (L. Coser 1977).
We also owe credit to Weber for a key conceptual tool: the ideal type. An ideal type is a construct or model for evaluating specific cases. In his works, Weber identified various characteristics of bureaucracy as an ideal type (discussed in detail in Chapter 05). In presenting this model of bureaucracy, Weber was not describing any particular organization, nor was he using the term ideal in a way that suggested a positive evaluation. Instead, his purpose was to provide a useful standard for measuring how bureaucratic an actual organization is (Gerth and Mills 1958). Later in this book, we will use the
concept of ideal type to study the family, religion, authority, and economic systems, as well as to analyze bureaucracy.
Although their professional careers coincided, Émile Durkheim and Max Weber never met and probably were unaware of each other’s existence, let alone ideas. Such was not true of the work of Karl Marx. Durkheim’s thinking about the impact of the division of labor in industrial societies was related to Marx’s writings, while Weber’s concern for a value-free, objective sociology was a direct response to Marx’s deeply held convictions. Thus, it is not surprising that Karl Marx is viewed as a major figure in the development of sociology, as well as several other social sciences (Figure 1-1).
FIGURE 1-1 CONTRIBUTORS TO SOCIOLOGY
Karl Marx Karl Marx (1818–1883) shared with Durkheim and Weber a dual interest in abstract philosophical issues and the concrete reality of everyday life. Unlike them, however, Marx was so critical of existing institutions that a conventional academic career was impossible. He spent most of his life in exile from his native Germany.
Marx’s personal life was a difficult struggle. When a paper he had written was suppressed, he fled to France. In Paris, he met Friedrich Engels (1820– 1895), with whom he formed a lifelong friendship. The two lived at a time when European and North American economic life was increasingly dominated by the factory rather than the farm.
While in London in 1847, Marx and Engels attended secret meetings of an
Page 10
illegal coalition of labor unions known as the Communist League. The following year they prepared a platform called The Communist Manifesto, in which they argued that the masses of people with no resources other than their labor (whom they referred to as the proletariat) should unite to fight for the overthrow of capitalist societies. In the words of Marx and Engels:
The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles. . . . The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win. WORKING MEN OF ALL COUNTRIES, UNITE! (Tucker 1978:473, 500)
After completing The Communist Manifesto, Marx returned to Germany, only to be expelled. He then moved to England, where he continued to write books and essays. Marx lived there in extreme poverty; he pawned most of his possessions, and several of his children died of malnutrition and disease. Marx clearly was an outsider in British society, a fact that may well have influenced his view of Western cultures.
In Marx’s analysis, society was fundamentally divided between two classes that clashed in pursuit of their own interests. When he examined the industrial societies of his time, such as Germany, England, and the United States, he saw the factory as the center of conflict between the exploiters (the owners of the means of production) and the exploited (the workers). Marx viewed these relationships in systematic terms; that is, he believed that a system of economic, social, and political relationships maintained the power and dominance of the owners over the workers. Consequently, Marx and Engels argued that the working class should overthrow the existing class system. Marx’s influence on contemporary thinking has been dramatic. His writings inspired those who would later lead communist revolutions in Russia, China, Cuba, Vietnam, and elsewhere.
Even apart from the political revolutions that his work fostered, Marx’s significance is profound. Marx emphasized the group identifications and associations that influence an individual’s place in society. This area of study is the major focus of contemporary sociology. Throughout this textbook, we will consider how membership in a particular gender classification, age group, racial group, or economic class affects a person’s attitudes and behavior. In an important sense, we can trace this way of understanding society back to the pioneering work of Karl Marx.
W. E. B. DuBois Marx’s work encouraged sociologists to view society through the eyes of those segments of the population that rarely influence decision making. In the United States, some early Black sociologists, including W. E. B. DuBois (1868–1963), conducted research that they hoped would assist in the struggle for a racially egalitarian society. DuBois (pronounced doo-BOYSS) believed that knowledge was essential in combating prejudice and achieving tolerance and justice. Sociologists, he contended, needed to draw on scientific principles to study social problems such as those experienced by Blacks in the United States. To separate opinion from fact, he advocated research on the lives of Blacks. Through his in-depth studies of urban life, both White and Black, in cities such as Philadelphia and Atlanta, DuBois ([1899] 1995) made a major contribution to sociology.
Like Durkheim and Weber, DuBois saw the importance of religion to society. However, he tended to focus on religion at the community level and on the role of the church in the lives of its members (DuBois [1903] 2003). DuBois had little patience with theorists such as Herbert Spencer, who seemed content with the status quo. He believed that the granting of full political rights to Blacks was essential to their social and economic progress.
Through what became known as the Atlanta Sociological Laboratory, DuBois also promoted groundbreaking research by other scholars. While investigating religion, crime, and race relations, these colleagues trained their students in sociological research. The extensive interviews conducted by students in Atlanta still enrich our understanding of human behavior (Earl Wright II 2012).
Because many of his ideas challenged the status quo, DuBois did not always find a receptive audience within either the government or the academic world. As a result, he became increasingly involved with organizations whose members questioned the established social order. In 1909 he helped to found the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, better known today as the NAACP (Morris 2015, Wortham 2008).
DuBois’s insights have been lasting. In 1897 he coined the term double consciousness to refer to the division of an individual’s identity into two or more social realities. He used the term to describe the experience of being Black in White America. African Americans have held the highest offices in
the land, including President of the United States. Yet for millions of African Americans, the reality of being Black in the United States typically is not one of power (DuBois [1903] 1961).
Twentieth-Century Developments Sociology today builds on the firm foundation developed by Émile Durkheim, Max Weber, Karl Marx, and W. E. B. DuBois. However, the field certainly has not remained stagnant over the past hundred years. While Europeans have continued to make contributions to the discipline, sociologists from throughout the world and especially the United States have advanced sociological theory and research. Their new insights have helped us to better understand the workings of society.
Charles Horton Cooley Charles Horton Cooley (1864–1929) was typical of the sociologists who came to prominence in the early 1900s. Born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Cooley received his graduate training in economics but later became a sociology professor at the University of Michigan. Like other early sociologists, he had become interested in this new discipline while pursuing a related area of study.
Cooley shared the desire of Durkheim, Weber, and Marx to learn more about society. But to do so effectively, he preferred to use the sociological perspective to look first at smaller units—intimate, face-to-face groups such as families, gangs, and friendship networks. He saw these groups as the seedbeds of society, in the sense that they shape people’s ideals, beliefs, values, and social nature. Cooley’s work increased our understanding of groups of relatively small size.
Jane Addams In the early 1900s, many leading sociologists in the United States saw themselves as social reformers dedicated to systematically studying and then improving a corrupt society. They were genuinely concerned about the lives of immigrants in the nation’s growing cities, whether those immigrants came from Europe or from the rural American South. Early female sociologists, in particular, often took active roles in poor urban areas as leaders of community centers known as settlement houses. For example, Jane Addams
Page 11
(1860–1935), a member of the American Sociological Society, cofounded the famous Chicago settlement house called Hull House.
Addams and other pioneering female sociologists commonly combined intellectual inquiry, social service work, and political activism—all with the goal of assisting the underprivileged and creating a more egalitarian society. For example, working with the Black journalist and educator Ida Wells- Barnett, Addams successfully prevented racial segregation in the Chicago public schools. Addams’s efforts to establish a juvenile court system and a women’s trade union reveal the practical focus of her work (Addams 1910, 1930; Deegan 1991; Lengermann and Niebrugge-Brantley 1998).
By the middle of the 20th century, however, the focus of the discipline had shifted. Sociologists for the most part restricted themselves to theorizing and gathering information; the aim of transforming society was left to social workers and activists. This shift away from social reform was accompanied by a growing commitment to scientific methods of research and to value-free interpretation of data. Not all sociologists were happy with this emphasis. A new organization, the Society for the Study of Social Problems, was created in 1950 to deal more directly with social inequality and other social problems.
Source: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division [LC-H25- 71336-BF] Jane Addams was an early pioneer both in sociology and in the settlement house movement. She was also an activist for many causes, including the worldwide campaign for peace.
Robert Merton Sociologist Robert Merton (1910–2003) made an important contribution to the discipline by successfully combining theory and research. Born to Slavic immigrant parents in Philadelphia, Merton won a scholarship to Temple University. He continued his studies at Harvard, where he acquired his lifelong interest in sociology. Merton’s teaching career was based at Columbia University.
Merton (1968) produced a theory that is one of the most frequently cited explanations of deviant behavior. He noted different ways in which people attempt to achieve success in life. In his view, some may deviate from the socially approved goal of accumulating material goods or the socially
accepted means of achieving that goal. For example, in Merton’s classification scheme, innovators are people who accept the goal of pursuing material wealth but use illegal means to do so, including robbery, burglary, and extortion. Although Merton based his explanation of crime on individual behavior that has been influenced by society’s approved goals and means, it has wider applications. His theory helps to account for the high crime rates among the nation’s poor, who may see no hope of advancing themselves through traditional roads to success. Chapter 7 discusses Merton’s theory in greater detail.
Merton also emphasized that sociology should strive to bring together the macro-level and micro-level approaches to the study of society. Macrosociology concentrates on large-scale phenomena or entire civilizations. Harriet Martineau’s study of religion and politics in the United States is an example of macro-level research. More recently, macrosociologists have examined international crime rates (see Chapter 7) and the stereotype of Asian Americans as a “model minority” (see Chapter 10). In contrast, microsociology stresses the study of small groups, often through experimental means. Sociological research on the micro level has included studies of how divorced men and women disengage from significant social roles (see Chapter 5) and of how a teacher’s expectations can affect a student’s academic performance (see Chapter 13).
While Merton intended to be inclusive of all research, over the past fifty years sociologists have identified two additional levels of research: mesosociology and global sociology. Mesosociology is an intermediate level of analysis embracing study of formal organizations and social movements. Max Weber’s analysis of bureaucracies (see Chapter 5) and the study of environmentalism (see Chapter 15) illustrate mesosociology. Global sociology makes comparisons among nations, typically using entire societies as the units of analysis. Émile Durkheim’s cross-cultural study of suicide is an example of global sociology, as is the study of international crime rates (Smelser, 1997).
Pierre Bourdieu Increasingly, scholars in the United States have been drawing on the insights of sociologists in other countries. The ideas of the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu (1930–2002) have found a broad following in North America and
Page 12
elsewhere. As a young man, Bourdieu did fieldwork in Algeria during its struggle for independence from France. Today, scholars study Bourdieu’s research techniques as well as his conclusions.
Bourdieu wrote about how capital in its many forms sustains individuals and families from one generation to the next. To Bourdieu, capital included not just material goods, but cultural and social assets. Cultural capital refers to noneconomic goods, such as family background and education, which are reflected in a knowledge of language and the arts. Not necessarily book knowledge, cultural capital refers to the kind of education that is valued by the socially elite. Though a knowledge of Chinese cuisine is culture, for example, it is not the prestigious kind of culture that is valued by the elite. In the United States, immigrants—especially those who arrived in large numbers and settled in ethnic enclaves—have generally taken two or three generations to develop the same level of cultural capital enjoyed by more established groups.
In comparison, social capital refers to the collective benefit of social networks, which are built on reciprocal trust. Much has been written about the importance of family and friendship networks in providing people with an opportunity to advance. Social bonds and capital have great value in health happiness, educational achievement, and economic success. In his emphasis on cultural and social capital, Bourdieu’s work extends the insights of early social thinkers such as Marx and Weber (Bourdieu and Passerson 1990; Poder 2011; Putnam 2015:207).
Today sociology reflects the diverse contributions of earlier theorists. As sociologists approach such topics as divorce, drug addiction, and religious cults, they can draw on the theoretical insights of the discipline’s pioneers. A careful reader can hear Comte, Durkheim, Weber, Marx, DuBois, Cooley, Addams, and many others speaking through the pages of current research. Sociology has also broadened beyond the intellectual confines of North America and Europe. Contributions to the discipline now come from sociologists studying and researching human behavior in other parts of the world. In describing the work of these sociologists, it is helpful to examine a number of influential theoretical perspectives, also known as approaches or views.
thinking CRITICALLY What kinds of social and cultural capital do you possess? How did you acquire them? What keeps you from acquiring more?
Major Theoretical Perspectives Sociologists view society in different ways. Some see the world basically as a stable and ongoing entity. They are impressed with the endurance of the family, organized religion, and other social institutions. Other sociologists see society as composed of many groups in conflict, competing for scarce resources. To still other sociologists, the most fascinating aspects of the social world are the everyday, routine interactions among individuals that we sometimes take for granted. These three views, the ones most widely used by sociologists, are the functionalist, conflict, and interactionist perspectives. Together, these approaches will provide an introductory look at the discipline.
Functionalist Perspective Think of society as a living organism in which each part of the organism contributes to its survival. This view is the functionalist perspective, which emphasizes the way in which the parts of a society are structured to maintain its stability. In examining any aspect of society, then, functionalists emphasize the contribution that it makes to overall social stability.
Talcott Parsons (1902–1979), a Harvard University sociologist, was a key figure in the development of functionalist theory. Parsons was greatly influenced by the work of Émile Durkheim, Max Weber, and other European sociologists. For more than four decades, he dominated sociology in the United States with his advocacy of functionalism. Parsons saw any society as a vast network of connected parts, each of which helps to maintain the system as a whole. His approach, carried forward by German sociologist Niklas Luhmann (1927–1998), holds that if an aspect of social life does not contribute to a society’s stability or survival—if it does not serve some identifiably useful function or promote value consensus among members of society—it will not be passed on from one generation to the next (Joas and
Knöbl 2009; Knudsen 2010). Let’s examine an example of the functionalist perspective. Many
Americans have difficulty understanding the Hindu prohibition against slaughtering cows (specifically, zebu). Cattle browse unhindered through Indian street markets, helping themselves to oranges and mangoes while people bargain for the little food they can afford. What explains this devotion to the cow in the face of human deprivation—a devotion that appears to be dysfunctional?
©John Lund/Tiffany Schoepp/Blend Images/Corbis Functionalists would see the family, as shown here in Panama City, Panama, as important to contributing to the stability of the society.
The simple explanation is that cow worship is highly functional in Indian society, according to economists, agronomists, and social scientists who have studied the matter. Cows perform two essential tasks: plowing the fields and producing milk. If eating beef were permitted, hungry families might be tempted to slaughter their cows for immediate consumption, leaving themselves without a means of cultivation. Cows also produce dung, which doubles as a fertilizer and a fuel for cooking. Finally, cow meat sustains the neediest group in society, the Dalit, or untouchables, who sometimes resort to
Page 13
eating beef in secrecy. If eating beef were socially acceptable, higher-status Indians would no doubt bid up its price, placing it beyond the reach of the hungriest.
Manifest and Latent Functions A college catalog typically states various functions of the institution. It may inform you, for example, that the university intends to “offer each student a broad education in classical and contemporary thought, in the humanities, in the sciences, and in the arts.” However, it would be quite a surprise to find a catalog that declared, “This university was founded in 1895 to assist people in finding a marriage partner.” No college catalog will declare this as the purpose of the university. Yet societal institutions serve many functions, some of them quite subtle. The university, in fact, does facilitate mate selection.
Robert Merton (1968) made an important distinction between manifest and latent functions. Manifest functions of institutions are open, stated, and conscious functions. They involve the intended, recognized consequences of an aspect of society, such as the university’s role in certifying academic competence and excellence. In contrast, latent functions are unconscious or unintended functions that may reflect hidden purposes of an institution. One latent function of universities is to hold down unemployment. Another is to serve as a meeting ground for people seeking marital partners.
Dysfunctions Functionalists acknowledge that not all parts of a society contribute to its stability all the time. A dysfunction refers to an element or process of a society that may actually disrupt the social system or reduce its stability.
We view many dysfunctional behavior patterns, such as homicide, as undesirable. Yet we should not automatically interpret them in this way. The evaluation of a dysfunction depends on one’s own values, or as the saying goes, on “where you sit.” For example, the official view in prisons in the United States is that inmate gangs should be eradicated because they are dysfunctional to smooth operations. Yet some guards have come to view prison gangs as a functional part of their jobs. The danger posed by gangs creates a “threat to security,” requiring increased surveillance and more
overtime work for guards, as well as requests for special staffing to address gang problems (G. Scott 2001).
Conflict Perspective Where functionalists see stability and consensus, conflict sociologists see a social world in continual struggle. The conflict perspective assumes that social behavior is best understood in terms of tension between groups over power or the allocation of resources, including housing, money, access to services, and political representation. The tension between competing groups need not be violent; it can take the form of labor negotiations, party politics, competition between religious groups for new members, or disputes over the federal budget.
Throughout most of the 1900s, the functionalist perspective had the upper hand in sociology in the United States. However, the conflict approach has become increasingly persuasive since the late 1960s. The widespread social unrest resulting from battles over civil rights, bitter divisions over the war in Vietnam, the rise of the feminist and gay liberation movements, the Watergate political scandal, urban riots, confrontations at abortion clinics, and shrinking economic prospects for the middle class have offered support for the conflict approach—the view that our social world is characterized by continual struggle between competing groups. Currently, the discipline of sociology accepts conflict theory as one valid way to gain insight into a society.
The Marxist View As we saw earlier, Karl Marx viewed struggle between social classes as inevitable, given the exploitation of workers that he perceived under capitalism. Expanding on Marx’s work, sociologists and other social scientists have come to see conflict not merely as a class phenomenon but as a part of everyday life in all societies. In studying any culture, organization, or social group, sociologists want to know who benefits, who suffers, and who dominates at the expense of others. They are concerned with the conflicts between women and men, parents and children, cities and suburbs, Whites and Blacks, to name only a few. Conflict theorists are interested in how society’s institutions—including the family, government, religion, education, and the media—may help to maintain the privileges of some
groups and keep others in a subservient position. Their emphasis on social change and the redistribution of resources makes conflict theorists more radical and activist than functionalists (Dahrendorf 1959).
©Elmer Martinez/AFP/Getty Images Sociologists who take the Marxist view ask “Who benefits, who suffers, and who dominates?” What might these tattoos suggest to a Marxist theorist?
The Feminist Perspective Sociologists began embracing the feminist perspective only in the 1970s, although it has a long tradition in many other disciplines. The feminist perspective sees inequity in gender as central to all behavior and organization. Because it focuses clearly on one aspect of inequality, it is often allied with the conflict perspective. Proponents of the feminist view tend to focus on the macro level, just as conflict theorists do. Drawing on the work of Marx and Engels, contemporary feminist theorists often view women’s subordination as inherent in capitalist societies. Some radical feminist theorists, however, view the oppression of women as inevitable in all male- dominated societies, whether capitalist, socialist, or communist (Ferguson
Page 14
2017). An early example of this perspective (long before the label came into use
by sociologists) can be seen in the life and writings of Ida Wells-Barnett (1862–1931). Following her groundbreaking publications in the 1890s on the practice of lynching Black Americans, she became an advocate in the women’s rights campaign, especially the struggle to win the vote for women. Like feminist theorists who succeeded her, Wells-Barnett used her analysis of society as a means of resisting oppression. In her case, she researched what it meant to be Black, a woman in the United States, and a Black woman in the United States (Giddings 2008; Wells-Barnett 1970).
A more recent contribution that continues to spark discussion is the notion of the intersectionalities, or the interlocking matrix of domination. In all societies, privilege or lack of privilege is determined by multiple social factors, such as gender, age, race, sexual orientation, and religion. Patricia Hill Collins (2000), among other feminist theorists, drew attention to these interlocking factors, demonstrating that it is not just wealth that influences how we navigate our daily lives in any society.
©Photo Reseachers, Inc./Science Source Ida Wells-Barnett explored what it meant to be female and Black in the United States. Her work established her as one of the earliest feminist theorists.
Queer Theory Traditionally, sociologists and other researchers have assumed that men and women are heterosexual. They either ignored other sexual identifications or treated them as abnormal. Yet as French social theorist Michel Foucault (1978) has pointed out, what is regarded as normal or even acceptable human sexuality varies dramatically from one culture to another, as well as from one time period to another. Today, in queer theory, sociologists have moved beyond narrow assumptions to study sexuality in all its forms.
Historically, the word queer was used in a derogatory manner, to stigmatize a person or behavior. Beginning in the early 1970s, however, gay and lesbian activists began to use the word as a term of empowerment. They dismissed the notion of heterosexuality as the only normal form of sexuality, along with the belief that people must be either heterosexual or homosexual. Instead, they recognized multiple sexual identities, including bisexuality. Queer theory is the study of society from the perspective of a broad spectrum of sexual identities, including heterosexuality, homosexuality, and bisexuality.
Queer theorist Eve Sedgwick (1990) argues that any analysis of society is incomplete if it does not include the spectrum of sexual identities that people embrace. Consider, for example, the reelection of President Obama in 2012. Political scientists have often noted the overwhelming support the president received from African Americans, Latinos, and women voters. Yet most have ignored the huge support—76 percent—that the president enjoyed among gay, lesbian, and bisexual voters. In comparison, heterosexual voters split evenly (49 percent to 49 percent nationwide) between Obama and his opponent, Mitt Romney. In the three battleground states of Florida, Ohio, and Virginia, support from gay, lesbian, and bisexual voters alone was enough to put Obama over the top. If Romney had carried just 51 percent of the gay, lesbian, and bisexual vote nationwide, he would have become the next president of the United States (Gates 2012).
Use Your Sociological Imagination You are a sociologist who takes the conflict perspective. How would you interpret the practice of prostitution? How would your view of prostitution differ if you took the functionalist perspective? The feminist perspective? The perspective of queer theory?
Interactionist Perspective Workers interacting on the job, encounters in public places like bus stops and parks, behavior in small groups—all these aspects of microsociology catch the attention of interactionists. Whereas functionalist and conflict theorists both analyze large-scale, society-wide patterns of behavior, theorists who take the interactionist perspective generalize about everyday forms of social interaction in order to explain society as a whole.
Today, given concern over traffic congestion and commuting costs, interactionists have begun to study a form of commuter behavior called “slugging.” To avoid driving to work, commuters gather at certain preappointed places to seek rides from complete strangers. When a driver pulls into the parking area or vacant lot and announces his destination, the first slug in line who is headed for that destination jumps in. Rules of etiquette have emerged to smooth the social interaction between driver and passenger: neither the driver nor the passenger may eat or smoke; the slug may not adjust the windows or radio or talk on a cell phone. The presence of the slugs, who get a free ride, may allow the driver to use special lanes reserved for high-occupancy vehicles (Slug-Lines.com 2016).
Interactionism (also referred to as symbolic interactionism) is a sociological framework in which human beings are viewed as living in a world of meaningful objects. Those “objects” may include material things, actions, other people, relationships, and even symbols. Interactionists see symbols as an especially important part of human communication (thus the term symbolic interactionism). Symbols have a shared social meaning that is understood by all members of a society. In the United States, for example, a salute symbolizes respect, while a clenched fist signifies defiance. Another culture might use different gestures to convey a feeling of respect or defiance. These types of symbolic interaction are classified as forms of nonverbal communication, which can include many other gestures, facial expressions, and postures (Masuda et al. 2008).
Manipulation of symbols can be seen in dress codes. Schools frown on students who wear clothes displaying messages that appear to endorse violence or drug and alcohol consumption. Businesses stipulate the attire employees are allowed to wear on the job in order to impress their customers or clients. In 2005, the National Basketball Association (NBA) adopted a new dress code for the athletes who play professional basketball—one that
Page 15 involved not the uniforms they wear on court, but the clothes they wear off court on league business. The code requires “business casual attire” when players are representing the league. Indoor sunglasses, chains, and sleeveless shirts are specifically banned. Indeed, partly as a result, players embraced the restrictions and turned them into a display of the latest fashions. Their runway-worthy attire now receives detailed media analysis (Crowe and Herman 2005:A23; Marcus 2015).
While the functionalist and conflict approaches were initiated in Europe, interactionism developed first in the United States. George Herbert Mead (1863–1931) is widely regarded as the founder of the interactionist perspective. Mead taught at the University of Chicago from 1893 until his death. As his teachings have become better known, sociologists have expressed greater interest in the interactionist perspective. Many have moved away from what may have been an excessive preoccupation with the macro (large-scale) level of social behavior and have redirected their attention toward behavior that occurs on the micro (small-scale) level.
Erving Goffman (1922–1982) popularized a particular type of interactionist method known as the dramaturgical approach, in which people are seen as theatrical performers. The dramaturgist compares everyday life to the setting of the theater and stage. Just as actors project certain images, all of us seek to present particular features of our personalities while we hide other features. Thus, in a class, we may feel the need to project a serious image; at a party, we may want to look relaxed and friendly.
The Sociological Approach Which perspective should a sociologist use in studying human behavior? Functionalist? Conflict? Interactionist? Feminist? Queer theorist? We simply cannot squeeze all sociological thinking into 4 or 5 theoretical categories—or even 10, if we include several other productive approaches. However, by studying the three major frameworks, we can better grasp how sociologists seek to explore social behavior. Table 1-2 summarizes these three broad approaches to sociological study.
Although no one approach is correct by itself, and sociologists draw on all of them for various purposes, many sociologists tend to favor one particular perspective over others. A sociologist’s theoretical orientation influences his or her approach to a research problem in important ways—including the choice of what to study, how to study it, and what questions to pose (or not to pose). Box 1-1 shows how researchers would study sports from different sociological perspectives.
RESEARCH TODAY
1-1 Looking at Sports from Five Sociological Perspectives We watch sports. Talk sports. Spend money on sports. Some of us live and breathe sports. Because sports occupy much of our time and directly or indirectly consume and generate a great deal of money, it should not be surprising that sports have sociological components that can be analyzed from various theoretical perspectives. In this section we will look at sports from five major sociological perspectives.
Functionalist View In examining any aspect of society, functionalists emphasize the contribution it makes to overall social stability. Functionalists regard sports as an almost religious institution that uses ritual and ceremony to reinforce the common values of a society. For example:
Sports socialize young people into such values as competition and patriotism. Sports help to maintain people’s physical well-being. Sports serve as a safety valve for both participants and spectators, who are allowed to shed tension and aggressive energy in a socially acceptable way. Sports bring together members of a community (who support local athletes and teams) or even a nation (during World Cup matches and the Olympics) and promote an overall feeling of unity and social solidarity.
©Sergei Bachlakov/Shutterstock
Professional golfer Brooke Henderson of Canada won $1.5 million in 2017, making her the sixth most successful woman on the pro golf circuit that year. Among men, her winnings would have put her in 74th place.
Conflict View Conflict theorists argue that the social order is based on coercion and exploitation. They emphasize that sports reflect and even exacerbate many of the divisions of society:
Sports are a form of big business in which profits are more important than the health and safety of the workers (athletes). Sports perpetuate the false idea that success can be achieved simply through hard work, while failure should be blamed on the individual alone (rather than on injustices in the larger social system). Professional athletes’ behavior can promote violence and the use of performance-enhancing drugs. Communities divert scarce resources to subsidize the construction of professional sports facilities. Sports maintain the subordinate role of Blacks and Latinos, who toil as athletes but are less visible in supervisory positions as coaches, managers, and owners. Team logos and mascots (like the Washington Redskins) disparage American Indians.
Despite their differences, functionalists, conflict theorists, feminists, queer theorists, and
interactionists would all agree that there is much more to sports than exercise or recreation.
Feminist View Feminist theorists consider how watching or participating in sports reinforces the roles that men and women play in the larger society:
Although sports generally promote fitness and health, they may also have an adverse effect on participants’ health. Men are more likely to resort to illegal steroid use (among bodybuilders and baseball players, for example); women, to excessive dieting (among gymnasts and figure skaters, for example). Gender expectations encourage female athletes to be passive and gentle, qualities that do not support the emphasis on competitiveness in sports. As a result, women find it difficult to enter sports traditionally
Page 17
dominated by men, such as Indy or NASCAR. Although professional women athletes’ earnings are increasing, they typically trail those of male athletes.
Queer Theory Proponents of queer theory emphasize the ways in which sports promote heterosexuality as the only acceptable sexual identity for athletes:
Coaches and players routinely use slurs based on negative stereotypes of homosexuals to stigmatize athletes whose performance is inadequate. As a group, professional athletes are highly reluctant to display any sexual identity other than heterosexuality in public, for fear of damaging their careers and losing their fans and commercial sponsors. Parents who are not heterosexual encounter hostility when they try to register their children for sports or scouting programs, and are often rejected from coaching and other support roles.
Interactionist View In studying the social order, interactionists are especially interested in shared understandings of everyday behavior. Interactionists examine sports on the micro level by focusing on how day-to-day social behavior is shaped by the distinctive norms, values, and demands of the world of sports:
Sports often heighten parent–child involvement; they may lead to parental expectations for participation, and sometimes unrealistically, for success. Participation in sports builds the friendship networks that permeate everyday life. Despite class, racial, and religious differences, teammates may work together harmoniously and may even abandon common stereotypes and prejudices. Relationships in the sports world are defined by people’s social positions as players, coaches, and referees—as well as by the high or low status that individuals hold as a result of their performances and reputations.
Despite their differences, functionalists, conflict theorists, feminists, queer theorists, and interactionists would all agree that there is much more to sports than exercise or recreation. They would also agree that sports and other popular forms of culture are worthy subjects of serious study by sociologists.
LET’S DISCUSS 1. Have you experienced or witnessed discrimination in sports based on
gender, race, or sexual identity? If so, how did you react? Has the representation of Blacks, women, or gays on teams been controversial on your campus? In what ways?
2. Which of the five sociological perspectives seems most useful to you in analyzing sports? Why?
Sources: Acosta and Carpenter 2001; Eitzen 2009; Fine 1987; Sefiha 2012; Sharp et al. 2013; Young 2004; Zirin 2008.
Whatever the purpose of sociologists’ work, their research will always be guided by their theoretical viewpoints. For example, sociologist Elijah Anderson (1990) embraces both the interactionist perspective and the groundbreaking work of W. E. B. DuBois. For 14 years Anderson conducted fieldwork in Philadelphia, where he studied the interactions of Black and White residents who lived in adjoining neighborhoods. In particular, he was interested in their public behavior, including their eye contact—or lack of it —as they passed one another on the street. Anderson’s research tells us much about the everyday social interactions of Blacks and Whites in the United States, but it does not explain the larger issues behind those interactions. Like theories, research results illuminate one part of the stage, leaving other parts in relative darkness.
thinking CRITICALLY Relate the toys on display in your local store to issues of race, class, and gender.
Page 16Taking Sociology with You You’ve seen how sociologists employ the major sociological perspectives in their research. How does sociology relate to you, your own studies, and your own career? In this section you’ll learn about applied and clinical sociology, two growing fields that allow sociology majors and those with advanced degrees in sociology to apply what they have learned to real-world settings. You’ll also see how to develop your sociological imagination, one of the keys to thinking like a sociologist. See the appendix at the end of this chapter for more information on careers in sociology.
Applied and Clinical Sociology Many early sociologists—notably, Jane Addams, W. E. B. DuBois, and George Herbert Mead—were strong advocates for social reform. They wanted their theories and findings to be relevant to policymakers and to people’s lives in general. For instance, Mead was the treasurer of Hull House, where he applied his theory to improving the lives of those who were powerless (especially immigrants). He also served on committees dealing with Chicago’s labor problems and public education. DuBois led the Atlanta Sociological Laboratory from 1895 to 1924, supporting scholars in their applied research on business, criminal justice, health care, and philanthropy (Earl Wright II 2012).
Today, applied sociology is the use of the discipline of sociology with the specific intent of yielding practical applications for human behavior and organizations. By extension, Michael Burawoy (2005), in his presidential address to the American Sociological Association, endorsed what he called public sociology, encouraging scholars to engage a broader audience in bringing about positive outcomes. In effect, the applied sociologist reaches out to others and joins them in their efforts to better society.
Often, the goal of applied or public sociology is to assist in resolving a social problem. For example, in the past 50 years, eight presidents of the United States have established commissions to delve into major societal concerns facing our nation. Sociologists are often asked to apply their expertise to studying such issues as violence, pornography, crime, immigration, and population. In Europe, both academic and government research departments are offering increasing financial support for applied
Page 18
studies. One example of applied sociology is the growing interest in learning more
about local communities. Since its founding in 1994, the Northeast Florida Center for Community Initiatives (CCI), based at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, has conducted several community studies, including a homeless census and survey, an analysis of the economic impact of the arts in Jacksonville, and a long-term survey of the effects of Hurricane Katrina. Typical of applied sociology, these outreach efforts are collaborative, involving faculty, undergraduate and graduate students, volunteers, and community residents (Center for Community Initiatives 2014).
©Science Photo Library/Alamy Stock Photo The Center for Community Initiativesʼs Magnolia Project, an example of applied sociology, aims to decrease high rates of infant mortality.
Another of CCI’s applications of sociology, the Magnolia Project, is based in a storefront clinic in an underprivileged area of Jacksonville. Part of the federal Healthy Start initiative, which aims to decrease high infant mortality rates, the project serves women of childbearing age who have little or no regular access to health care. CCI’s responsibilities include (1) interviewing and surveying key community participants, (2) coordinating data collection by the project’s staff, (3) analyzing data, and (4) preparing progress reports for funding agencies and community partners. Through June 2014, not a single infant death had occurred among the 662 participants in the program (Center for Community Initiatives 2014).
Growing interest in applied sociology has led to such specializations as medical sociology and environmental sociology. The former includes research on how health care professionals and patients deal with disease. To give one example, medical sociologists have studied the social impact of the AIDS crisis on families, friends, and communities (see Chapter 15). Environmental sociologists examine the relationship between human societies and the physical environment. One focus of their work is the issue of “environmental justice” (see Chapter 15), raised when researchers and community activists found that hazardous waste dumps are especially likely to be situated in poor and minority neighborhoods (M. Martin 1996).
The growing popularity of applied sociology has led to the rise of the specialty of clinical sociology. Louis Wirth (1931) wrote about clinical sociology more than 85 years ago, but the term itself has become popular only in recent years. While applied sociology may simply evaluate social issues, clinical sociology is dedicated to facilitating change by altering social relationships (as in family therapy) or restructuring social institutions (as in the reorganization of a medical center).
Applied sociologists generally leave it to policymakers to act on their evaluations. In contrast, clinical sociologists take direct responsibility for implementation and view those with whom they work as their clients. This specialty has become increasingly attractive to graduate students in sociology because it offers an opportunity to apply intellectual learning in a practical way. A shrinking job market in the academic world has made such alternative
career routes appealing. Applied and clinical sociology can be contrasted with basic sociology (also
called pure sociology), which seeks a more profound knowledge of the fundamental aspects of social phenomena. This type of research is not necessarily meant to generate specific applications, although such ideas may result once findings are analyzed. When Durkheim studied suicide rates, he was not primarily interested in discovering a way to eliminate suicide. In this sense, his research was an example of basic rather than applied sociology.
Developing a Sociological Imagination In this book, we will be illustrating the sociological imagination in several different ways—by showing theory in practice and in current research; by noting the ways in which electronic devices and apps are changing our social behavior; by thinking globally; by exploring the significance of social inequality; by speaking across race, gender, and religious boundaries; and by highlighting social policy throughout the world.
Theory in Practice We will illustrate how the major sociological perspectives can be helpful in understanding today’s issues, from capital punishment to abortion. Sociologists do not necessarily declare, “Here I am using functionalism,” but their research and approaches do tend to draw on one or more theoretical frameworks, as will become clear in the pages to follow.
Research Today Sociologists actively investigate a variety of issues and social behavior. We have already seen that research can shed light on the social factors that affect suicide rates. Sociological research often plays a direct role in improving people’s lives, as in the case of increasing the participation of African Americans in diabetes testing. Throughout the rest of the book, the research performed by sociologists and other social scientists will shed light on group behavior of all types.
Our Wired World “What is the news today?” For many people, “the news” means the latest
Page 19
comments, pictures, and videos posted online by friends and acquaintances. For some, such up-to-the-minute connectivity has become addictive. During the superstorm that hit New Jersey and New York in October 2012, more than a few people missed their wireless connections more than they did their electrical service.
Thinking Globally Whatever their theoretical perspective or research techniques, sociologists recognize that social behavior must be viewed in a global context. Globalization is the worldwide integration of government policies, cultures, social movements, and financial markets through trade and the exchange of ideas. Although public discussion of globalization is relatively recent, intellectuals have been pondering both its negative and positive social consequences for a long time. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels warned in The Communist Manifesto (written in 1848) of a world market that would lead to production in distant lands, sweeping away existing working relationships.
©Milt Priggee, Puget Sound Business Journal The interconnectedness across the world makes globalization increasingly important to many aspects of daily life.
In the chapter-opening excerpt from Outcasts United, Warren St.
John might have been focusing on a small Georgia town, but the key players on the team he described were from Liberia, Iraq, Sudan, Burundi, Congo, and Jordan. Such diversity is increasingly common throughout the United States. Locally, this diversity serves to globalize local communities; it also reflects major societal events and movements throughout the world.
Another aspect of the world landscape is how multinational corporations are allowed to expand communications technology, particularly the Internet and satellite transmission of the mass media. Others view it more critically, as a process that allows multinational corporations to expand unchecked. We examine the impact of globalization on our daily lives and on societies throughout the world in Box 1-2 and throughout this book (Fiss and Hirsch 2005).
SOCIOLOGY IN THE GLOBAL COMMUNITY
1-2 Your Morning Cup of Coffee When you drink a cup of coffee, do you give much thought to where the coffee beans came from, or do you think more about the pleasure you get from the popular beverage? Coffee certainly is popular—as an import, it is second only to petroleum, the most traded commodity in the world.
Although the coffee trade has been globalized, the customs of coffee drinking still vary from place to place. Starbucks now has 21,000 locations in 65 countries. Managers find that in European countries, where the coffeehouse culture originated, 80 percent of customers sit down to drink their coffee. Europeans want to get to know their baristas, so in 2012 Starbucks introduced nametags. In the United States, by contrast, 80 percent of Starbucks customers leave the store immediately, taking their coffee with them.
©John Foxx/Stockbyte/Getty Images
Today, the coffee trade relies on the exploitation of cheap labor. Coffee is a labor-intensive crop: there is little that technology can do to ease the coffee picker’s burden. The typical coffee picker works in a developing nation near the equator, receiving for a day’s wages an amount that matches the price of a single cup of coffee in North America. In the 1940s, advocacy groups began to promote the sale of certified fair trade coffee, which gives a living wage to those who harvest the crop, allowing them to become economically self-sufficient.
The typical coffee picker works in a developing nation near the equator, receiving for a day’s wages an amount that matches the price of a single cup of coffee in North America.
Ecological activists have drawn attention to what they see as the coffee industry’s contribution to the trend toward global warming. The need to make room for more coffee fields, they charge, has encouraged the destruction of rain forests. The same criticism can be aimed at much of the consumption in industrial nations. Of all the products that emerge from developing nations, however, few have as singular a place in many people’s daily ritual as that morning cup of joe. The drink in your hand is your tangible link to rural workers in some of the poorest areas of the world.
LET’S DISCUSS 1. Do you enjoy coffee? Would you willingly pay more for a cup of coffee if
you knew that the worker who picked the beans would benefit from the higher price?
2. The coffee trade has been blamed for perpetuating social inequality and global warming. Can you think of any positive effects of the coffee trade? Who benefits most from this economic activity?
Sources: Alderman 2012; Cole & Brown 2014; Ritzer 2015; Timmerman 2009.
The Significance of Social Inequality Who holds power? Who doesn’t? Who has prestige? Who lacks it? Perhaps the major theme of analysis in sociology today is social inequality, a condition in which members of society have differing amounts of wealth, prestige, or power. For example, the disparity between what coffee bean pickers in developing nations are paid and the price you pay for a cup of coffee underscores global inequality (see Box 1-2). And the impact of Hurricane Katrina on residents of the Gulf Coast drew attention to social inequality in the United States. Predictably, the people who were hit the hardest by the massive storm were the poor, who had the greatest difficulty evacuating before the storm and have had the most difficulty recovering from it.
Some sociologists, in seeking to understand the effects of inequality, have made the case for social justice. W. E. B. DuBois ([1940] 1968:418) noted that the greatest power in the land is not “thought or ethics, but wealth.” As we have seen, the contributions of Karl Marx, Jane Addams, and Ida Wells- Barnett also stressed this belief in the overarching significance of social inequality, and by extension, social justice. In this book, social inequality will be the central focus of Chapters 8 and 9, and sociologists’ work on inequality will be highlighted throughout.
Speaking across Race, Gender, and Religious Boundaries Sociologists include both men and women, who come from a variety of ethnic, national, and religious origins. In their work, sociologists seek to draw conclusions that speak to all people—not just the affluent or powerful. Doing so is not always easy. Insights into how a corporation can increase its profits tend to attract more attention and financial support than do, say, the merits of a needle exchange program for low-income inner-city residents. Yet today more than ever, sociology seeks to better understand the experiences of all people.
Page 20Sociologists have noted, for example, that the huge tsunami that hit South Asia in 2004 affected men and women differently. When the waves hit, mothers and grandmothers were at home with the children; men were outside working, where they were more likely to become aware of the impending disaster. Moreover, most of the men knew how to swim, a survival skill that women in these traditional societies usually do not learn. As a result, many more men than women survived the catastrophe—about 10 men for every 1 woman. In one Indonesian village typical of the disaster area, 97 of 1,300 people survived; only 4 were women. The impact of this gender imbalance will be felt for some time, given women’s primary role as caregivers for children and the elderly (BBC News 2005).
Social Policy throughout the World One important way we can use a sociological imagination is to enhance our understanding of current social issues throughout the world. Beginning with Chapter 2, each chapter will conclude with a discussion of a contemporary social policy issue. In some cases we will examine a specific issue facing national governments. For example, government funding of child care centers will be discussed in Chapter 4, Socialization and the Life Course; global immigration in Chapter 10, Racial and Ethnic Inequality; and religion in the schools in Chapter 13, Education and Religion. These Social Policy sections will demonstrate how fundamental sociological concepts can enhance our critical thinking skills and help us to better understand current public policy debates taking place around the world.
In addition, sociology has been used to evaluate the success of programs or the impact of changes brought about by policymakers and political activists. For example, Chapter 9, Global Inequality, includes a discussion of research on the effectiveness of welfare programs. Such discussions underscore the many practical applications of sociological theory and research.
Sociologists expect the next quarter century to be perhaps the most exciting and critical period in the history of the discipline. That is because of a growing recognition—both in the United States and around the world—that current social problems must be addressed before their magnitude overwhelms human societies. We can expect sociologists to play an increasing role in government by researching and developing public policy alternatives. It seems only natural for this textbook to focus on the connection
between the work of sociologists and the difficult questions confronting policymakers and people in the United States and around the world.
thinking CRITICALLY What issues facing your local community would you like to address with applied sociological research? Do you see any global connections to these local issues?
APPENDIX Careers in Sociology For the past two decades the number of U.S. college students who have graduated with a degree in sociology has risen steadily. In this appendix we’ll consider some of the options these students have after completing their education.
How do students first learn about the sociological perspective on society? Some may take a sociology course in high school. Others may study sociology at community college, where 40 percent of all college students in the United States are enrolled. Indeed, many future sociology majors first develop their sociological imaginations at a community college.
An undergraduate degree in sociology doesn’t just serve as excellent preparation for future graduate work in sociology. It also provides a strong liberal arts background for entry-level positions in business, social services, foundations, community organizations, not-for-profit groups, law enforcement, and many government jobs. A number of fields—among them marketing, public relations, and broadcasting—now require investigative skills and an understanding of the diverse groups found in today’s multiethnic and multinational environment. Moreover, a sociology degree requires accomplishment in oral and written communication, interpersonal skills, problem solving, ability to work in a team, organizational skills, data analysis, and critical thinking—all job-related skills that may give sociology graduates an advantage over those who pursue more technical degrees (Hecht 2016).
Consequently, while few occupations specifically require an undergraduate degree in sociology, such academic training can be an important asset in
Page 21
entering a wide range of occupations. To emphasize this point, a number of chapters in this book highlight a real-life professional who describes how the study of sociology has helped in his or her career. For example, in Chapter 6 a Taking Sociology to Work box explains how a college graduate uses her training in sociology as a social media manager for nonprofit organizations. And in Chapter 14, another Taking Sociology to Work box shows how a recent graduate uses the skill set he acquired as a sociology major in his role as a government analyst.
Figure 1-2 summarizes the sources of employment for those with BA or BS degrees in sociology. It shows that fields including nonprofit organizations, education, business, and government offer major career opportunities for sociology graduates. Undergraduates who know where their career interests lie are well advised to enroll in sociology courses and specialties best suited to those interests. For example, students hoping to become health planners would take a class in medical sociology; students seeking employment as social science research assistants would focus on courses in statistics and methods. Internships, such as placements at city planning agencies and survey research organizations, afford another way for sociology students to prepare for careers. Studies show that students who choose an internship placement have less trouble finding jobs, obtain better jobs, and enjoy greater job satisfaction than students without internship placements. Finally, students should expect to change fields during their first five years of employment after graduation—for example, from sales and marketing to management (American Sociological Association 2013; Salem and Grabarek 1986).
FIGURE 1-2 OCCUPATIONS OF GRADUATING SOCIOLOGY MAJORS
Note: Based on a national survey of current occupation in 2013 of 759 graduates with a sociology major in the Class of 2012. Source: Spalter-Roth, Roberta, Nicole Van Vooren, and Mary S. Senter. “Using the Bachelor’s and Beyond Project to Help Launch Students in Careers.” 2013. Photo: ©Flashon Studio/Shutterstock
Many college students view social work as the field most closely associated with sociology. Traditionally, social workers received their undergraduate training in sociology and allied fields such as psychology and counseling. After some practical experience, social workers would generally seek a master’s degree in social work (MSW) to be considered for supervisory or administrative positions. Today, however, some students choose (where it is available) to pursue a bachelor’s degree in social work (BSW). This degree prepares graduates for direct service positions, such as caseworker or group worker.
©Aleksei Ivanov/123RF One year after graduation, one out of four sociology majors was employed in the social services as a counselor, child advocate, forensic interviewer, program director, or caseworker.
Many students continue their sociological training beyond the bachelor’s degree. More than 253 universities in the United States have graduate programs in sociology that offer PhD and/or master’s degrees. These programs differ greatly in their areas of specialization, course requirements, costs, and the research and teaching opportunities available to graduate students. About 72 percent of the graduates are women (American Sociological Association 2017b, 2017c).
Higher education is an important source of employment for sociologists with graduate degrees. Recently, 85 percent of recent PhD recipients in sociology have sought employment in colleges and universities. These sociologists teach not only majors who are committed to the discipline but also students hoping to become doctors, nurses, lawyers, police officers, and so forth (National Science Foundation 2011).
Sociologists who teach in colleges and universities may use their knowledge and training to influence public policy. For example, sociologist Andrew Cherlin (2003) commented on the debate over whether to provide federal funding to promote marriage among welfare recipients. Citing the results of two of his studies, Cherlin questioned the potential effectiveness of such a policy in strengthening low-income families. Because many single
Page 22
mothers choose to marry someone other than the father of their children— sometimes for good reason—their children often grow up in stepfamilies. Cherlin’s research shows that children who are raised in stepfamilies are no better off than those in single-parent families. He sees government efforts to promote marriage as a politically motivated attempt to foster traditional social values in a society that has become increasingly diverse.
For sociology graduates who are interested in academic careers, the road to a PhD (or doctorate) can be long and difficult. This degree symbolizes competence in original research; each candidate must prepare a book-length study known as a dissertation. Typically, a doctoral student in sociology will engage in four to seven years of intensive work, including the time required to complete the dissertation. Yet even this effort is no guarantee of a job as a sociology professor.
The good news is that over the next 10 years, the demand for instructors is expected to increase because of high rates of retirement among faculty from the baby boom generation, as well as the anticipated slow but steady growth in the college student population in the United States. Nonetheless, anyone who launches an academic career must be prepared for considerable uncertainty and competition in the college job market (American Sociological Association 2013).
Of course, not all people who work as sociologists teach or hold doctoral degrees. Take government, for example. The Census Bureau relies on people with sociological training to interpret data for other government agencies and the general public. Virtually every agency depends on survey research—a field in which sociology students can specialize—in order to assess everything from community needs to the morale of the agency’s workers. In addition, people with sociological training can put their academic knowledge to effective use in probation and parole, health sciences, community development, and recreational services. Some people working in government or private industry have a master’s degree (MA or MS) in sociology; others have a bachelor’s degree (BA or BS).
Currently, about 15 percent of the members of the American Sociological Association use their sociological skills outside the academic world, whether in social service agencies or in marketing positions for business firms. Increasing numbers of sociologists with graduate degrees are employed by businesses, industry, hospitals, and nonprofit organizations. Studies show that
many sociology graduates are making career changes from social service areas to business and commerce. For an undergraduate major, sociology is excellent preparation for employment in many parts of the business world (Spalter-Roth et al. 2013).
Whether you take a few courses in sociology or complete a degree, you will benefit from the critical thinking skills developed in this discipline. Sociologists emphasize the value of being able to analyze, interpret, and function within a variety of working situations—an asset in virtually any career. Moreover, given rapid technological change and the expanding global economy, all of us will need to adapt to substantial social change, even in our own careers. Sociology provides a rich conceptual framework that can serve as a foundation for flexible career development and assist you in taking advantage of new employment opportunities.
Mastering This Chapter
Summary Sociology is the scientific study of social behavior and human groups. This chapter examines the nature of sociological theory, the founders of the discipline, theoretical perspectives in contemporary sociology, practical applications for sociological theory and research, and ways to exercise the sociological imagination.
1. The sociological imagination is an awareness of the relationship between an individual and the wider society. It is based on the ability to view our own society as an outsider might, rather than from the perspective of our limited experiences and cultural biases.
2. In contrast to other social sciences, sociology emphasizes the influence that groups can have on people’s behavior and attitudes and the ways in which people shape society.
3. Knowledge that relies on common sense is not always reliable. Sociologists must test and analyze each piece of information they use.
4. Sociologists employ theories to examine relationships between observations or data that may seem completely unrelated.
5. Nineteenth-century thinkers who contributed sociological insights
included Auguste Comte, a French philosopher; Harriet Martineau, an English sociologist; and Herbert Spencer, an English scholar.
6. Other important figures in the development of sociology were Émile Durkheim, who pioneered work on suicide; Max Weber, who taught the need for insight in intellectual work; Karl Marx, who emphasized the importance of the economy and social conflict; and W. E. B. DuBois, who advocated the usefulness of both basic and applied research in combating prejudice and fostering racial tolerance and justice.
7. In the 20th century, the discipline of sociology was indebted to the U.S. sociologists Charles Horton Cooley and Robert Merton, as well as to the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu.
8. Macrosociology concentrates on large-scale phenomena or entire civilizations; microsociology stresses the study of small groups. Mesosociology is an intermediate level of analysis that focuses on formal organizations and social movements. Global sociology compares nations or entire societies.
9. The functionalist perspective emphasizes the way in which the parts of a society are structured to maintain its stability.
10. The conflict perspective assumes that social behavior is best understood in terms of conflict or tension between competing groups.
11. The feminist perspective, which is often allied with the conflict perspective, sees inequity in gender as central to all behavior and organization.
12. Queer theory stresses that to fully understand society, scholars must study it from the perspective of a range of sexual identities, rather than exclusively from a “normal” heterosexual point of view.
13. The interactionist perspective is concerned primarily with fundamental or everyday forms of interaction, including symbols and other types of nonverbal communication.
14. Sociologists make use of all five perspectives, since each offers unique insights into the same issue.
15. Applied and clinical sociology apply the discipline of sociology to the solution of practical problems in human behavior and organizations. In contrast, basic sociology is sociological inquiry that seeks only a deeper knowledge of the fundamental aspects of social phenomena.
16. This textbook makes use of the sociological imagination by showing theory in practice and in current research; by noting the ways in which electronic devices and apps are changing our social behavior; by thinking globally; by focusing on the significance of social inequality; by speaking across race, gender, and religious
Page 23
boundaries; and by highlighting social policy around the world.
Key Terms Anomie The loss of direction felt in a society when social control of
individual behavior has become ineffective. (page 8) Applied sociology The use of the discipline of sociology with the specific
intent of yielding practical applications for human behavior and organizations. (17)
Basic sociology Sociological inquiry conducted with the objective of gaining a more profound knowledge of the fundamental aspects of social phenomena. Also known as pure sociology. (18)
Clinical sociology The use of the discipline of sociology with the specific intent of altering social relationships or restructuring social institutions. (18)
Conflict perspective A sociological approach that assumes that social behavior is best understood in terms of tension between groups over power or the allocation of resources, including housing, money, access to services, and political representation. (13)
Cultural capital Noneconomic goods, such as family background and education, which are reflected in a knowledge of language and the arts. (11)
Double consciousness The division of an individual’s identity into two or more social realities. (10)
Dramaturgical approach A view of social interaction in which people are seen as theatrical performers. (15)
Dysfunction An element or process of a society that may disrupt the social system or reduce its stability. (13)
Feminist perspective A sociological approach that views inequity in gender as central to all behavior and organization. (13)
Functionalist perspective A sociological approach that emphasizes the way in which the parts of a society are structured to maintain its stability. (12)
Global sociology A level of sociological analysis that makes comparisons between entire nations, using entire societies as units of analysis. (11)
Globalization The worldwide integration of government policies, cultures, social movements, and financial markets through trade and the exchange of ideas. (18)
Ideal type A construct or model for evaluating specific cases. (9)
Interactionist perspective A sociological approach that generalizes about everyday forms of social interaction in order to explain society as a whole. (14)
Latent function An unconscious or unintended function that may reflect hidden purposes. (12)
Macrosociology Sociological investigation that concentrates on large-scale phenomena or entire civilizations. (11)
Manifest function An open, stated, and conscious function. (12) Mesosociology An intermediate level of sociological analysis that focuses
on formal organizations and social movements. (11) Microsociology Sociological investigation that stresses the study of small
groups, often through experimental means. (11) Natural science The study of the physical features of nature and the ways
in which they interact and change. (3) Nonverbal communication The sending of messages through the use of
gestures, facial expressions, and postures. (14) Queer theory The study of society from the perspective of a broad
spectrum of sexual identities, including heterosexuality, homosexuality, and bisexuality. (14)
Science The body of knowledge obtained by methods based on systematic observation. (3)
Social capital The collective benefit of social networks, which are built on reciprocal trust. (11)
Social inequality A condition in which members of society have differing amounts of wealth, prestige, or power. (19)
Social science The study of the social features of humans and the ways in which they interact and change. (3)
Sociological imagination An awareness of the relationship between an individual and the wider society, both today and in the past. (3)
Sociology The scientific study of social behavior and human groups. (3) Theory In sociology, a set of statements that seeks to explain problems,
actions, or behavior. (6) Verstehen The German word for “understanding” or “insight”; used to stress
the need for sociologists to take into account the subjective meanings people attach to their actions. (8)
TAKING SOCIOLOGY With You
1. Research! Time your daily activities. How much time do you spend
Page 24
communicating with others via electronic media, compared to speaking with them directly? How many different people do you converse with in person and how many via digital devices?
2. In what ways were you or your family affected by the recession that began in 2008? Did the widespread loss of jobs and homes make you and others more aware of the problem of homelessness? Similarly, how were you, your family, or your community affected by the subsequent upturn in the job market?
3. Consider some group or organization that you participate in. Using Robert Merton’s concepts, list its manifest and latent functions.
4. What specific issues could be best studied using a meso level of analysis? Which are best approached through global sociology?
Self-Quiz Read each question carefully and then select the best answer.
1. Sociology is a. very narrow in scope. b. concerned with what one individual does or does not do. c. the systematic study of social behavior and human groups. d. the study of interactions between two individuals at a time.
2. Which of the following thinkers introduced the concept of the sociological imagination? a. Émile Durkheim b. Max Weber c. Karl Marx d. C. Wright Mills
3. Émile Durkheim’s research on suicide suggested that a. people with religious affiliations had a higher suicide rate than
those who were unaffiliated. b. suicide rates seemed to be higher in times of peace than in times
of war and revolution. c. civilians were more likely to take their lives than soldiers. d. suicide is a solitary act, unrelated to group life.
4. Max Weber taught his students that they should employ which of the following in their intellectual work? a. anomie
b. verstehen c. the sociological imagination d. microsociology
5. Robert Merton’s contributions to sociology include a. successfully combining theory and research. b. producing a theory that is one of the most frequently cited
explanations of deviant behavior. c. an attempt to bring macro-level and micro-level analyses
together. d. all of the above
6. Which sociologist made a major contribution to society through his in- depth studies of urban life, including both Blacks and Whites? a. Auguste Comte b. Robert Merton c. Auguste Comte d. Charles Horton Cooley
7. In the late 19th century, before the term “feminist view” was even coined, the ideas behind this major theoretical approach appeared in the writings of a. Karl Marx. b. Ida Wells-Barnett. c. Charles Horton Cooley. d. Pierre Bourdieu.
8. Thinking of society as a living organism in which each part of the organism contributes to its survival is a reflection of which theoretical perspective? a. the functionalist perspective b. the conflict perspective c. the feminist perspective d. the interactionist perspective
9. Karl Marx’s view of the struggle between social classes inspired the contemporary a. functionalist perspective. b. conflict perspective. c. interactionist perspective. d. dramaturgical approach.
10. Erving Goffman’s dramaturgical approach, which postulates that people present certain aspects of their personalities while obscuring
other aspects, is a derivative of which major theoretical perspective? a. the functionalist perspective b. the conflict perspective c. the feminist perspective d. the interactionist perspective
11. Within sociology, a(n) _____________________________ _____________blank is a set of statements that seeks to explain problems, actions, or behavior.
12. In __________________________________________blank __________________________________________blank’s hierarchy of the sciences, sociology was the “queen,” and its practitioners were “scientist-priests.”
13. In Society in America, originally published in 1837, English scholar __________________________________________blank __________________________________________blank examined religion, politics, child rearing, and immigration in the young nation.
14. __________________________________________blank __________________________________________blank adapted Charles Darwin’s evolutionary view of the “survival of the fittest” by arguing that it is “natural” that some people are rich while others are poor.
15. Sociologist Max Weber coined the term ___________ _______________________________blank ____________ ______________________________blank in referring to a construct or model that serves as a measuring rod against which actual cases can be evaluated.
16. In The Communist Manifesto, _____________________ _____________________blank ____________________ ______________________blank and _____________________ _____________________blank _____________________ _____________________blank argued that the masses of people who have no resources other than their labor (the proletariat) should unite to fight for the overthrow of capitalist societies.
17. __________________________________________blank __________________________________________blank, an early female sociologist, cofounded the famous Chicago settlement house called Hull House and also tried to establish a juvenile court system.
18. The university’s role in certifying academic competence and excellence is an example of a(n) __________________________________________blank function.
19. The __________________________________________blank __________________________________________blank draws on
the work of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in that it often views women’s subordination as inherent in capitalist societies.
20. Looking at society from the broad spectrum of sexual identity, including heterosexuality, homosexuality, and bisexuality, is called _______________________________________blank theory.
Answers 1 (c); 2 (d); 3 (b); 4 (b); 5 (d); 6 (a); 7 (b); 8 (a); 9 (b); 10 (d) 11
systematic; 12 theory; 13 Auguste Comte; 14 Harriet Martineau; 15 Herbert Spencer; 16 ideal type; 17 Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels; 18 Jane Addams; 19 manifest; 20 queer
Page 25
2 Sociological Research
©Jim West/PhotoEdit On a busy street in Hamtramck, Michigan, a researcher interviews a man about his views on contemporary social issues. Surveys are just one of the methods sociologists use to collect data.
‣ INSIDE
What Is the Scientific Method? Major Research Designs Ethics of Research
Page 26
Feminist Methodology Queer Theory and Methodology The Data-Rich Future Social Policy and Sociological Research: Studying Human Sexuality Appendix I: Using Statistics and Graphs Appendix II: Writing a Research Report
Did you ever wonder how researchers study behaviors that are private and personal?
Sociologists Patricia Adler and Peter Adler went on the Internet to study people who injure themselves. Read on to see what they learned.
©Ira C. Roberts
“Self-injury has existed for nearly all of recorded history. Although it has been defined and regarded in various ways over time, its rise in the 1990s and
early 2000s has taken a specific, although contested, form and meaning. We focus in this book on the deliberate, nonsuicidal destruction of one’s own body tissue, incorporating practices such as self-cutting, burning, branding, scratching, picking at skin. . . .
Our goal here is to discuss the form of this latest incarnation of self-injury, now often regarded as a typical behavior among adolescents, describing and analyzing it through the voices and from the perspective of those who practice it. . . .
Many self-injurers were driven to this behavior by nothing more serious than the minor stresses typically associated with normal adolescence. . . . People cited upsets with their friends, romantic relationships, and family members as having led them to self-injury. Mike was a scruffy-looking college student who always wore a stocking cap. He started cutting and burning himself between the ages of 12 and 14. When he was in high school Mike’s girlfriend broke up with him, leaving him devastated. He reflected, “Yeah, I thought every relationship was the end of the world. I kept getting further and further depressed, and I just needed something to where I could vent and rage without having any outward signs so that anybody could tell anything was wrong.” He turned to cutting to assuage his feelings of sadness. . . .
Over the years that we were actively involved in the self-injury cyber world, it took several twists and turns. The earliest of the sites we discovered probably originated during the late 1990s. At that time, most sites were privately owned and unmonitored. Participants often used the term self-mutilation, and it was not uncommon to find graphic details and pictures of injuries. Sites had names such as “bleed me,” “ruin your life,” “bioetchings,” “bleeding to ease the pain,” “cut it out,” and “gallery of pain.” Their main purpose, it appeared, was to offer fellowship to self-harmers so they would know they were not alone. . . .
Mike was a scruffy-looking college student who always wore a stocking cap. He started cutting and burning himself between the ages of 12 and 14.
Over the course of our research we also collected tens of thousands (in the range of 30,000–40,000) of Internet messages and emails, including those posted publicly and those written to and by us. In 2006 we enlisted the aid of three student coders to help us sort and analyze the emails and postings from the Internet groups. At this time we were working on one paper, and the students helped us find posts and emails pertinent to our specific focus. We repeated this process again in 2008 with ten more student coders, expanding the project greatly. Each student took one set of emails we had collected from a group, board, or chat room and pored through the years of postings we had assembled. We divided the students into groups of five and met with each group
Page 27
biweekly. At each session the students submitted notes and memos about the material they had scanned, and we brainstormed for sociological codes,
categories, concepts, trends, and patterns.” Source: Adler, Patricia A., and Peter Adler. The Tender Cut: Inside the Hidden World of Self-Injury. New York, NY: New York University Press, 2011, pp. 1, 43, 44, 54–55.
In this excerpt from Patricia A. Adler and Peter Adler’s book The Tender Cut: Inside the Hidden World of Self-Injury, the authors describe their extensive research on a little-known behavior and its social underpinnings. Over a six-year period, the Adlers conducted lengthy, emotionally intense interviews with self-injurers, becoming friends with many. They met others in virtual space, through Internet-based support groups and web postings. “Rather than remaining strictly detached from our subjects, we became involved in their lives, helping them and giving voice to their experiences and beliefs,” the Adlers admit (2007:542; 2011).
The Adlers’ work on self-injury reflects all three major sociological approaches. For self-injurers, who rarely come into contact with others like themselves, the Internet functions as a meeting place, a refuge from their self- imposed social isolation. As conflict theorists would point out, their unconventional behavior marginalizes them, preventing them from receiving assistance even when they would welcome it. Interactionists would recognize the critical nature of self-injurers’ interpersonal contacts, in person and often online. And feminist and queer theorists would look for gender or sexual orientation differences in self-injurers’ behavior.
Though many people would like to ignore the phenomenon of self-injury, believing that those who practice it will eventually “grow out of it,” the Adlers’ research allows us to consider it intelligently and scientifically, within the social context. Self-injurers, the Adlers found, are a diverse group, whose behavior is carefully planned and considered. Surprisingly, members often begin to injure themselves in the company of others rather than in secret. They have recently begun to coalesce as a subculture (2007:559–560).
Effective sociological research can be quite thought-provoking. It may suggest many new questions that require further study, such as why we make assumptions about people who engage in atypical behaviors like self-injury. In some cases, rather than raising additional questions, a
study will simply confirm previous beliefs and findings. Sociological research can also have practical applications. For instance, research results that disconfirm accepted beliefs about marriage and the family may lead to changes in public policy.
This chapter will examine the research process used in conducting sociological studies. How do sociologists go about setting up a research project? How do they ensure that the results of the research are reliable and accurate? Can they carry out their research without violating the rights of those they study?
We will look first at the steps that make up the scientific method used in research. Then we will look at various techniques commonly used in sociological research, such as experiments, observations, and surveys. We will pay particular attention to the ethical challenges sociologists face in studying human behavior, and to the debate raised by Max Weber’s call for “value neutrality” in social science research. We will also examine feminists’ and queer theorists’ methodologies and the role technology plays in research today.
Though sociological researchers can study almost any subject, in this chapter we will concentrate on two in particular. The first is the relationship of education to income, which we will use as an example in the section on the scientific method. The second is the controversial subject of human sexual behavior. Like self-injury, sexual behavior is private and personal, and therefore hard to study. The Social Policy section that closes this chapter describes the difficulties and challenges of researching closely guarded sexual behaviors.
Whatever the area of sociological inquiry and whatever the perspective of the sociologist—whether functionalist, conflict, feminist, queer theorist, interactionist, or any other—there is one crucial requirement: imaginative, responsible research that meets the highest scientific and ethical standards.
What Is the Scientific Method? Like all of us, sociologists are interested in the central questions of our time: Is the family falling apart? Why is there so much crime in the United States? Can the world feed a growing population? Such issues concern most people, whether or not they have academic training. However, unlike the typical
citizen, the sociologist has a commitment to use the scientific method in studying society. The scientific method is a systematic, organized series of steps that ensures maximum objectivity and consistency in researching a problem.
Many of us will never actually conduct scientific research. Why, then, is it important that we understand the scientific method? The answer is that it plays a major role in the workings of our society. Residents of the United States are constantly bombarded with “facts” or “data.” A television news report informs us that “one in every two marriages in this country now ends in divorce,” yet as Chapter 12 will show, that assertion is based on misleading statistics. Almost daily, advertisers cite supposedly scientific studies to prove that their products are superior. Such claims may be accurate or exaggerated. We can better evaluate such information—and will not be fooled so easily—if we are familiar with the standards of scientific research.
These standards are quite stringent, and they demand as strict adherence as possible. The scientific method requires precise preparation in developing research. Otherwise, the research data collected may not prove accurate. Sociologists and other researchers follow five basic steps in the scientific method: (1) defining the problem, (2) reviewing the literature, (3) formulating the hypothesis, (4) selecting the research design and then collecting and analyzing data, and (5) developing the conclusion (Figure 2-1). After reaching the conclusion, researchers write a report on their study. Often the report will begin with an executive summary of the method they followed and their conclusion. In the sections that follow, we’ll use an actual example to illustrate the scientific method.
FIGURE 2-1 THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD
Page 28
The scientific method allows sociologists to objectively and logically evaluate the data they collect. Their findings can suggest ideas for further sociological research.
Defining the Problem Does it “pay” to go to college? Some people make great sacrifices and work hard to get a college education. Parents borrow money for their children’s tuition. Students work part-time jobs or even take full-time positions while attending evening or weekend classes. Does it pay off? Are there monetary returns for getting that degree?
The first step in any research project is to state as clearly as possible what you hope to investigate—that is, define the problem. In this instance, we are interested in knowing how schooling relates to income. We want to find out the earnings of people with different levels of formal schooling.
Early on, any social science researcher must develop an operational definition of each concept being studied. An operational definition is an explanation of an abstract concept that is specific enough to allow a researcher to assess the concept. For example, a sociologist interested in status might use membership in exclusive social clubs as an operational definition of status. Someone studying prejudice might consider a person’s
unwillingness to hire or work with members of minority groups as an operational definition of prejudice. In our example, we need to develop two operational definitions—education and earnings—in order to study whether it pays to get an advanced educational degree. We’ll define education as the number of years of schooling a person has achieved and earnings as the income a person reports having received in the past year.
Reviewing the Literature By conducting a review of the literature—examining relevant scholarly studies and information—researchers refine the problem under study, clarify possible techniques to be used in collecting data, and eliminate or reduce avoidable mistakes. In our example, we would examine information about the salaries for different occupations. We would see if jobs that require more academic training are better rewarded. It would also be appropriate to review other studies on the relationship between education and income.
The review of the literature would soon tell us that many factors besides years of schooling influence earning potential. For example, we would learn that the children of rich parents are more likely to go to college than those of poor parents, so we might consider the possibility that rich parents may later help their children to secure better-paying jobs.
We might also look at macro-level data, such as state-by-state comparisons of income and educational levels. In one macro-level study based on census data, researchers found that in states whose residents have a relatively high level of education, household income levels are high as well (Figure 2-2). This finding suggests that schooling may well be related to income, though it does not speak to the micro-level relationship we are interested in. That is, we want to know whether individuals who are well educated are also well paid.
MAPPING LIFE NATIONWIDE
FIGURE 2-2 EDUCATIONAL LEVEL AND HOUSEHOLD INCOME IN THE UNITED STATES
Note: Cutoffs for high/medium and medium/low educational levels in 2015 were 32 percent and 27 percent of the population over age 25 with a college degree, respectively; median for the entire nation was 30.6 percent. Cutoffs for high/medium and medium/low household income levels in 2015 were $60,700 and $51,080;
national household median income was $55,775. Source: American Community Survey. 2015 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, 2016, Tables R1502, R1902.
Formulating the Hypothesis After reviewing earlier research and drawing on the contributions of sociological theorists, the researchers may then formulate the hypothesis. A hypothesis is a speculative statement about the relationship between two or more factors known as variables. Income, religion, occupation, and gender can all serve as variables in a study. We can define a variable as a measurable trait or characteristic that is subject to change under different conditions.
Researchers who formulate a hypothesis generally must suggest how one aspect of human behavior influences or affects another. The variable hypothesized to cause or influence another is called the independent variable. The other variable is termed the dependent variable because its action depends on the influence of the independent variable. In other words, the researcher believes that the independent variable predicts or causes change in the dependent variable. For example, a researcher in sociology might anticipate that the availability of affordable housing (the independent variable, x) affects the level of homelessness in a community (the dependent variable, y).
©Jason Lindsey/Alamy Stock Photo It seems reasonable that these graduates of Fort Bethold Community College on the Fort Bethold Reservation, North Dakota, will earn more income than high school graduates. How would you go about testing that hypothesis?
Our hypothesis is that the higher one’s educational degree, the more money one will earn. The independent variable that is to be measured is the level of education. The variable that is thought to depend on it—income—must also be measured.
Identifying independent and dependent variables is a critical step in clarifying cause-and-effect relationships. As shown in Figure 2-3, causal logic involves the relationship between a condition or variable and a particular consequence, with one leading to the other. For instance, being less integrated into society may be directly related to, or produce a greater likelihood of, suicide. Similarly, the time students spend reviewing material for a quiz may be directly related to, or produce a greater likelihood of, getting a high score on the quiz.
FIGURE 2-3 CAUSAL LOGIC
In causal logic, an independent variable (often designated by the symbol x) influences a dependent variable (often designated as y); thus, x leads to y. For example, parents who attend church regularly (x) are more likely to have children who are churchgoers (y). Notice that the first two pairs of variables are taken from studies already described in this textbook.
A correlation exists when a change in one variable coincides with a change in the other. Correlations are an indication that causality may be present; they do not necessarily indicate causation. For example, data indicate that people who prefer to watch televised news programs are less knowledgeable than those who read newspapers and newsmagazines. This
Page 30
Page 29
correlation between people’s relative knowledge and their choice of news media seems to make sense, because it agrees with the common belief that television dumbs down information. But the correlation between the two variables is actually caused by a third variable, people’s relative ability to comprehend large amounts of information. People with poor reading skills are much more likely than others to get their news from television, while those who are more educated or skilled turn more often to the print media. Though television viewing is correlated with lower news comprehension, then, it does not cause it. Sociologists seek to identify the causal link between variables; the suspected causal link is generally described in the hypothesis (Neuman 2009).
Collecting and Analyzing Data How do you test a hypothesis to determine if it is supported or refuted? You need to collect information, using one of the research designs described later in the chapter. The research design guides the researcher in collecting and analyzing data.
Selecting the Sample In most studies, social scientists must carefully select what is known as a sample. A sample is a selection from a larger population that is statistically representative of that population. There are many kinds of samples, but the one social scientists use most frequently is the random sample. In a random sample, every member of an entire population being studied has the same chance of being selected. Thus, if researchers want to examine opinions of people from a complete listing of neighborhood residences, they might use a computer to randomly select addresses from the listing. The results would constitute a random sample. The advantage of using specialized sampling techniques is that sociologists do not need to question everyone in a population (Igo 2007).
In some cases, the subjects researchers want to study are hard to identify, either because their activities are clandestine or because lists of such people are not readily available. How do researchers create a sample of illegal drug users, for instance, or of women whose husbands are at least 10 years younger than they are? In such cases, researchers employ what are called snowball or convenience samples—that is, they recruit participants through
word of mouth or by posting notices on the Internet. With the help of special statistical techniques, researchers can draw conclusions from such nonrandom samples.
It is all too easy to confuse the careful scientific techniques used in representative sampling with the many nonscientific polls that receive much more media attention. For example, website viewers are often encouraged to register their views on headline news or political contests. Such polls reflect nothing more than the views of those who happened to visit the website and took the time, perhaps at some cost, to register their opinions. These data do not necessarily reflect (and indeed may distort) the views of the broader population. Not everyone has access to a computer on a regular basis, or the means and/or inclination to register their opinions. Even when these techniques include answers from tens of thousands of people, they will be far less accurate than a carefully selected representative sample of 1,500 respondents.
For the purposes of our research example, we will use information collected in the American Community Survey conducted by the Bureau of the Census. Each year, the Census Bureau surveys approximately 3.5 million households across the United States. Technicians at the bureau then use the data to estimate the nation’s entire population.
Ensuring Validity and Reliability The scientific method requires that research results be both valid and reliable. Validity refers to the degree to which a measure or scale truly reflects the phenomenon under study. A valid measure of income depends on the gathering of accurate data. Various studies show that people are reasonably accurate in reporting how much money they earned in the most recent year. If a question is written unclearly, however, the resulting data might not be accurate. For example, respondents to an unclear question about income might report their parents’ or spouse’s income instead of their own.
Reliability refers to the extent to which a measure produces consistent results. Some people may not disclose accurate information, but most do. In the American Community Survey, about 98 percent of the households that researchers approach participate in the survey. The Census Bureau checks their responses against those of similar households, to ensure that the data do not differ significantly from other known responses. The bureau also checks
Page 31
their responses for reliability, since more and more data are being collected online (American Community Survey 2013b).
Developing the Conclusion Scientific studies, including those conducted by sociologists, do not aim to answer all the questions that can be raised about a particular subject. Therefore, the conclusion of a research study represents both an end and a beginning. Although it terminates a specific phase of the investigation, it should also generate ideas for future study.
Supporting Hypotheses In our example, we find that the data support our hypothesis: people with more formal schooling do earn more money than others. Those with a high school diploma earn more than those who failed to complete high school, but those with an associate’s degree earn more than high school graduates. The relationship continues through more advanced levels of schooling, so that those with graduate degrees earn the most.
The relationship is not perfect, however. Some people who drop out of high school end up with high incomes, and some with advanced degrees earn modest incomes, as shown in Figure 2-4. A successful entrepreneur, for example, might not have much formal schooling, while the holder of a doctorate may choose to work for a low-paying nonprofit institution. Sociologists are interested in both the general pattern that emerges from their data and exceptions to the pattern.
FIGURE 2-4 IMPACT OF A COLLEGE EDUCATION ON INCOME
Source: Author’s analysis of Semega, Fontenot, and Kollar 2017:PINC- 03. Education data for individuals 25 years or older, working full- time. Semega, Jessica L., Kyla R. Fontenot, and Melissa A. Kollar. Income and Poverty in the United States: 2016. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 2017. Photo: ©LAMB/Alamy Stock Photo Thirty-three percent of people with a high school diploma or less (left) earn under $25,000 per year, while only 44 percent earn $40,000 or more. In contrast, only 27 percent of those with an associate’s degree or higher (right) earn less than $25,000, while 78 percent earn $40,000 or more.
Sociological studies do not always generate data that support the original hypothesis. Many times, a hypothesis is refuted, and researchers must reformulate their conclusions. Unexpected results may also lead sociologists to reexamine their methodology and make changes in the research design.
Controlling for Other Factors A control variable is a factor that is held constant to test the relative impact of an independent variable. For example, if researchers wanted to know how adults in the United States feel about restrictions on smoking in public places,
they would probably attempt to use a respondent’s smoking behavior as a control variable. That is, how do smokers versus nonsmokers feel about smoking in public places? The researchers would compile separate statistics on how smokers and nonsmokers feel about antismoking regulations.
Our study of the influence of education on income suggests that not everyone enjoys equal educational opportunities, a disparity that is one of the causes of social inequality. Since education affects a person’s income, we may wish to call on the conflict perspective to explore this topic further. What impact does a person’s race or gender have? Is a woman with a college degree likely to earn as much as a man with similar schooling? Later in this textbook we will consider these other factors and variables. That is, we will examine the impact that education has on income while controlling for variables such as gender and race.
In Summary: The Scientific Method Let us briefly summarize the process of the scientific method through a review of the example. We defined a problem (the question of whether it pays to get a higher educational degree). We reviewed the literature (other studies of the relationship between education and income) and formulated a hypothesis (the higher one’s educational degree, the more money one will earn). We collected and analyzed the data, making sure the sample was representative and the data were valid and reliable. Finally, we developed the conclusion: the data do support our hypothesis about the influence of education on income.
Page 32
©Martin Novak/Alamy Stock Photo How would researchers study our attitudes toward people who smoke cigarettes in public? They would likely use respondents’ past smoking behavior as a control variable. In that case, they might hypothesize that respondents who smoke may be more tolerant of smoking in public than respondents who don’t smoke. Another interesting question would be whether people who have quit smoking feel differently about lighting up in public than other nonsmokers. What do you think?
thinking CRITICALLY Suppose that two researchers used different operational definitions for the same term. Could both researchers’ results be reliable and valid? Explain your answer.
Major Research Designs An important aspect of sociological research is deciding how to collect the data. A research design is a detailed plan or method for obtaining data scientifically. Selection of a research design is often based on the theories and hypotheses the researcher starts with (Merton 1948). The choice requires creativity and ingenuity, because it directly influences both the cost of the
Page 33
project and the amount of time needed to collect the data. Research designs that sociologists regularly use to generate data include surveys, ethnography, experiments, and existing sources.
Surveys Almost all of us have responded to surveys of one kind or another. We may have been asked what kind of detergent we use, which presidential candidate we intend to vote for, or what our favorite television program is. A survey is a study, generally in the form of an interview or questionnaire, that provides researchers with information about how people think and act. As anyone who watches the news during presidential campaigns knows, surveys have become a staple of political life.
When you think of surveys, you may recall seeing online polls that offer instant results. Although such polls can be highly interesting, they reflect only the opinions of those who visit the website and choose to respond online. As we have seen, a survey must be based on precise, representative sampling if it is to genuinely reflect a broad range of the population. In our wired world, more and more people can be reached only through their cell phones. Box 2-1 describes the challenges of conducting a public opinion survey on a cell phone.
OUR WIRED WORLD
2-1 Surveying Cell Phone Users “Can you hear me now?” This question, familiar to cell phone callers everywhere, could be used to characterize a debate among researchers in sociology. Until recently, calling people on the telephone was a common way for survey takers to reach a broad range of people. Though not everyone owns a telephone—particularly not low-income people— researchers managed to account for that relatively small portion of the population in other ways.
However, the fact that many people now have a cell phone but no landline presents a serious methodological problem to scholars who depend on surveys and public opinion polling. As of 2016, 47 percent of households in the United States could be reached only by cell phone, and the proportion
was rising. Among those under 18–29, the abandonment of landlines is even greater, with 72 percent accessible only by cell phone.
Scholars are reluctant to rely only on landline-based surveys. They are concerned about the potential for misleading results, such as underestimates of the prevalence of health problems. For example, 38 percent of cell phone–only households have a binge drinker, compared to only 17 percent of landline households. And 28 percent of cell phone–only households do not have health insurance, compared to 14 percent of landline households.
As of 2016, 47 percent of households in the United States could be reached only by cell phone, and the proportion was rising.
Unfortunately, surveying cell phone users has its own problems. In general, cell phone users are more likely than landline users to screen incoming calls or ignore them. And studies show that because cell phone users often take calls while they are involved in other activities, they are much more likely to break off a call midsurvey than someone who is speaking on a landline. Thus, it takes an average of nine calls to a working cell phone number to complete one survey, compared to five calls to a working landline number. Furthermore, federal law requires that calls to cell phones be hand-dialed; the use of automatic dialers, a standard tool of survey firms, is illegal. Survey takers have also found that calling cell phone numbers means they will reach a higher proportion of nonadults than when calling landline numbers. Finally, there are some ethical issues involved in randomly dialing cell phone users, who may be driving a motor vehicle or operating dangerous machinery when they answer.
Researchers are taking steps to stay abreast of technological change. For example, they are making allowances for people who communicate without any kind of telephone, using their personal computers and the Internet. And by drawing on historical data that suggest what kinds of people tend to adopt other wireless technologies, researchers are projecting which people are likely to abandon their landlines in the near future.
LET’S DISCUSS 1. Are you a cell phone–only user? If so, do you generally accept calls
from unknown numbers? Aside from underestimating certain health problems and distorting the degree of support for certain politicians, what other problems might result from excluding cell phone–only users from survey research?
2. Apply what you have just learned to the task of surveying Internet users. Which of the problems that arise during telephone surveys might also arise during Internet surveys? Might Internet surveys involve some unique problems?
Sources: Blumberg and Luke 2007; David Brown 2009; Burger 2015; Lavrakas et al. 2007; McGeeney 2016.
Web-based surveys are becoming attractive options because the costs are so low once the questionnaire is developed. But are these anonymous Internet responses accurate? They can be quite valid. One such example is a 2009 study that used an audience of more than 1 million residents in the United States that had opted in through Internet advertising and direct-mail contacts. Using this database, researchers carefully developed a sample representative of the general population and asked sensitive questions about racial stereotypes. The responses closely match the results obtained when similar questions were asked in face-to-face interviews conducted in different national samples at about the same time. Comparisons like these are encouraging for the future of web-based surveys (Simmons and Bobo 2015).
In preparing to conduct a survey, sociologists must not only develop representative samples; they must also exercise great care in the wording of questions. An effective survey question must be simple and clear enough for people to understand. It must also be specific enough so that there are no problems in interpreting the results. Open-ended questions (“What do you think of the programming on educational television?”) must be carefully phrased to solicit the type of information desired. Surveys can be indispensable sources of information, but only if the sampling is done properly and the questions are worded accurately and without bias.
In wording questions, researchers must also pay careful attention to changes in society. In December 2010, officials at the Bureau of Labor Statistics recognized the effects of an extended recession by changing a decades-old practice. In the past, multiple-choice questions about how long a respondent had been unemployed had ended with a maximum of “99 weeks or over.” By the end of 2010, joblessness had become so chronic that the bureau increased the number of choices, ending with “up to 5 years.”
There are two main forms of the survey: the interview, in which a researcher obtains information through face-to-face, phone, or online
questioning, and the questionnaire, in which the researcher uses a printed or written form to obtain information from a respondent. Each of these has its own advantages. An interviewer can obtain a higher response rate, because people find it more difficult to turn down a personal request for an interview than to throw away a written questionnaire. In addition, a skillful interviewer can go beyond written questions and probe for a subject’s underlying feelings and reasons. Patricia and Peter Adler conducted 139 in-depth interviews for their book on the sensitive subject of self-injury (see the chapter-opening excerpt). On the other hand, questionnaires have the advantage of being cheaper, especially in large samples.
©Gatis Sluka, Latvijas Avize, Latvia Interviewers must carefully record all responses and not appear judgmental of any answer they receive.
Page 34
Why do people have sex? A straightforward question, but until recently it was rarely investigated scientifically, despite its significance to public health, marital counseling, and criminology. To find the answer, researchers interviewed nearly 2,000 undergraduates at the University of Texas at Austin. In developing the question for the interview, they first asked a random sample of 400 students to list all the reasons why they had ever had sex. The explanations were highly diverse, ranging from “I was drunk” to “I wanted to feel closer to God.” The team then asked another sample of 1,500 students to rate the importance of each of the 287 reasons given by the first group. Table 2-1 ranks the results. Nearly every reason was rated most important by at least some respondents. Though there were some gender differences in the replies, there was significant consensus between men and women on the top 10 reasons (Meston and Buss 2007).
Source: Meston, Cindy M., and David M. Buss. “Why Humanoids Have Sex.” Archives of Sexual Behavior 36, August 2007, p. 506.
Studies have shown that the characteristics of the interviewer have an impact on survey data. For example, female interviewers tend to receive more feminist responses from female subjects than do male
interviewers, and Black interviewers tend to receive more detailed responses about race-related issues from Black subjects than do White interviewers. The possible impact of gender and race indicates again how much care social research requires (D. W. Davis and Silver 2003).
The survey is an example of quantitative research, which collects and reports data primarily in numerical form. Most of the survey research discussed so far in this book has been quantitative. While this type of research can make use of large samples, it can’t offer great depth and detail on a topic. That is why researchers also make use of qualitative research, which relies on what is seen in field and naturalistic settings, and often focuses on small groups and communities rather than on large groups or whole nations. The most common form of qualitative research is ethnography, or observation, which we consider next. Throughout this book you will find examples of both quantitative and qualitative research, since both are used widely. Some sociologists prefer one type of research to the other, but we learn most when we draw on many different research designs and do not limit ourselves to a particular type of research.
Ethnography Investigators often collect information or test hypotheses through firsthand studies. Ethnography is the study of an entire social setting through extended systematic fieldwork. Observation, or direct participation in closely watching a group or organization, is the basic technique of ethnography. However, ethnographic research also includes the collection of historical information and the conduct of in-person interviews. Although ethnography may seem a relatively informal method compared to surveys or experiments, ethnographic researchers are careful to take detailed notes while observing their subjects.
In some cases, the sociologist actually joins a group for a period, to get an accurate sense of how it operates. This approach is called participant observation. In Barbara Ehrenreich’s widely read book Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America, the author was a participant observer. Disguising herself as a divorced, middle-aged housewife without a college degree, Ehrenreich set out to see what life was like for low-wage workers. Her book chronicles her own and others’ experiences trying to make ends meet on a minimum wage (Ehrenreich 2001).
Page 35
During the late 1930s, in a classic example of participant-observation research, William F. Whyte moved into a low-income Italian neighborhood in Boston. For nearly four years he was a member of the social circle of “corner boys” that he describes in Street Corner Society. Whyte revealed his identity to these men and joined in their conversations, bowling, and other leisure-time activities. His goal was to gain greater insight into the community that these men had established. As Whyte (1981:303) listened to Doc, the leader of the group, he “learned the answers to questions I would not even have had the sense to ask if I had been getting my information solely on an interviewing basis.” Whyte’s work was especially valuable, since at the time the academic world had little direct knowledge of the poor, and tended to rely for information on the records of social service agencies, hospitals, and courts (P. Adler et al. 1992).
The initial challenge that Whyte faced—and that every participant observer encounters—was to gain acceptance into an unfamiliar group. It is no simple matter for a college-trained sociologist to win the trust of a religious cult, a youth gang, a poor Appalachian community, or a circle of skid row residents. It requires a great deal of patience and an accepting, nonthreatening type of personality on the part of the observer.
Ethnographic research poses other complex challenges for the investigator. Sociologists must be able to fully understand what they are observing. In a sense, then, researchers must learn to see the world as the group sees it in order to fully comprehend the events taking place around them. This raises a delicate issue. If the research is to be successful, the observer cannot allow the close associations or even friendships that inevitably develop to influence the subjects’ behavior or the conclusions of the study. Even while working hard to gain acceptance from the group being studied, the participant observer must maintain some degree of detachment.
An exciting tool for many ethnographers is visual sociology, described in Box 2-2.
RESEARCH TODAY
2-2 Visual Sociology
As a discipline, sociology relies on the scientific observation of human behavior, whether directly or through data gathered in surveys, experiments, and existing sources. Increasingly, however, sociologists also recognize visual documents as a significant research tool. Visual sociology is the use of photographs, film, and video to study society. Sociologist Howard Becker drew attention to the importance of images in his influential essay “Photography and Sociology.” For over three decades the International Visual Sociology Association has encouraged scholarship in visual sociology, not only by sociologists but also by anthropologists, communications scholars, and psychologists.
Although the term visual sociology is relatively new, the roots of visual research methods go deep. As Becker (1974:3) reminds us, “Photography and sociology have approximately the same birth date,” in the 1830s. Early sociological works made use of photographs and other visuals, such as maps, not merely as illustrations but as the basis of research. The hardships of the American Civil War, conflicts between Native Americans and U.S. Cavalry, and the Crimean War were all analyzed using early photographs. In the 20th century, scholars assessed the toll of the Great Depression in the United States by looking at photographs assembled by the Farm Security Administration. At the time, however, such studies did not receive much acceptance by sociologists. Until recently, only numerical data were deemed appropriate for study.
Source: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division [LC-B8184-7964-A]
Photographs and other visual images improve our understanding of events that affect social behavior. This scene from a Civil War battlefield suggests the utter devastation visited on society by that war.
Today the value of visuals in comprehending social behavior is easy to understand. For generations, music was shared and promoted through the
radio. Then music videos transformed popular music. MTV launched in 1981 with the Buggles video “Video Killed the Radio Star,” followed by Pat Benatar’s “You Better Run,” which suggested the changes that were about to occur in the music industry. Now scholars study these videos as extensively as they do the music and lyrics of pop music.
“Photography and sociology have approximately the same birth date,” in the 1830s.
Visual sociology includes the conscious creation of a visual record through documentary films or photography. Sociologist Charles Suchar studied gentrification by photographing commercial and residential areas over time and then analyzing the record to note how neighborhoods had changed. The photographs became the basis for interviews with residents and merchants about the details they revealed and the concerns they suggested, such as the desire for privacy and the need for security. Photographic records can also be useful in comparative studies. Imagine what sociologists might learn by contrasting images of a suburban barbecue and an Amish community raising a barn. In both cases, images would be treated as data, not merely as instructional aids.
©Spaces Images/Blend Images
Asking residents to describe photographs helps to call attention to details that are often overlooked, such as an emphasis on security.
Today, visual sociology is proving useful in applied sociology, the use of the discipline of sociology to yield practical applications for human behavior and organizations. In England, public health researchers photographed neighborhoods where illegal drug use was common. The images, which showed drug users injecting themselves in parks and public toilets, helped
to identify unsafe areas where discarded needles and syringes littered the ground. Although the visuals were not necessary to the research, they proved invaluable in the researchers’ effort to convince social services and law enforcement agencies that intervention was needed.
In short, the uses of visual sociology are as wide as the discipline of sociology itself. Technological innovations such as the Internet, social media, and 3D copiers will only continue to expand the field.
LET’S DISCUSS 1. Choose an image or series of images from reality TV or social media
and discuss it from a sociological perspective. What can you learn from it? What sociological concepts can you relate to it?
2. Might some images be misinterpreted by researchers? Give an example. How might scholars guard against such misinterpretation?
Sources: Becker 1974; Goffman 1979; J. Grady 2007; Harper 1988; Parkin and Coomber 2009; Stryker and Wood 1973 [1935–43]; Suchar 1997; International Visual Sociology Association 2018.
Experiments When sociologists want to study a possible cause-and-effect relationship, they may conduct experiments. An experiment is an artificially created situation that allows a researcher to manipulate variables.
Page 36
©Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University’s Data Truck lets researchers go where their subjects are—from nightclubs to marathon races. Equipped with the latest technology, the truck allows social scientists to enter the responses to their community surveys into their databases on-site. It also gives them access to online social networks in the area, and even lets them videotape street activity.
In the classic method of conducting an experiment, two groups of people are selected and matched for similar characteristics, such as age or education. The researchers then assign the subjects to one of two groups: the experimental or the control group. The experimental group is exposed to an independent variable; the control group is not. Thus, if scientists were testing a new type of antibiotic, they would administer the drug to an experimental group but not to a control group.
In some experiments, just as in observation research, the presence of a social scientist or other observer may affect the behavior of the people being studied. Sociologists have used the term Hawthorne effect to refer to the unintended influence that observers of experiments can have on their subjects. The term originated as the result of an experiment conducted at the Hawthorne plant of the Western Electric Company during the 1920s and 1930s. Researchers found that every change they made in working conditions—even reduced lighting—seemed to have a positive
effect on workers’ productivity. They concluded that workers had made a special effort to impress their observers. Though the carefully constructed study did identify some causes for changes in the workers’ behavior that did not have to do with their being observed, the term Hawthorne effect has become synonymous with a placebo or guinea pig effect (Franke and Kaul 1978).
thinking CRITICALLY How would you go about setting up an experiment to measure the effect of screen time on schoolchildren’s grades?
Use of Existing Sources Sociologists do not necessarily need to collect new data in order to conduct research and test hypotheses. The term secondary analysis refers to a variety of research techniques that make use of previously collected and publicly accessible information and data. Generally, in conducting secondary analysis, researchers use data in ways that were unintended by the initial collectors of information. For example, census data are compiled for specific uses by the federal government but are also valuable to marketing specialists in locating everything from bicycle stores to nursing homes.
Sociologists consider secondary analysis to be nonreactive—that is, it does not influence people’s behavior. For example, Émile Durkheim’s statistical analysis of suicide neither increased nor decreased human self-destruction. Researchers, then, can avoid the Hawthorne effect by using secondary analysis.
There is one inherent problem, however: the researcher who relies on data collected by someone else may not find exactly what is needed. Social scientists who are studying family violence can use statistics from police and social service agencies on reported cases of spouse abuse and child abuse, but how many cases are not reported? Government bodies have no precise data on all cases of abuse.
Many social scientists find it useful to study cultural, economic, and political documents, including newspapers, periodicals, radio and television tapes, the Internet, scripts, diaries, songs, folklore, and legal papers (Table 2-
2). In examining these sources, researchers employ a technique known as content analysis, which is the systematic coding and objective recording of data, guided by some rationale.
Content analysis can be revealing. Following a recent increase in devastating hurricanes, floods, and prolonged droughts, many people have expressed the need to educate future generations about climate change. To assess children’s awareness of the environment, sociologists conducted a content analysis of award-winning picture books over the last 70 years. Their work revealed a noticeable decline in depictions of the natural environment and animals. Today, when children’s books do address environmental events, they are more likely to portray volcanic eruptions than floods or bad weather.
Page 37
Even when books about urban areas show smokestacks emitting huge quantities of black smoke, the story line does not identify air pollution as a problem (J. Williams et al. 2012).
Content analysis can also document what we suspect is happening as well as reveal surprising trends. A 2015 study analyzed coverage of women’s sports on the Los Angeles local television market as well as on ESPN over 25 years. Despite the tremendous increase in women’s participation in sports over the last quarter century, content analysis revealed that only 3.2 percent of airtime was devoted to women’s sports; further, this represented a decline from the levels back in 1989. ESPN’s heavily watched SportCenter consistently devotes 2 percent of airtime to women; of this, 82 percent represents coverage of basketball (Cooky et al. 2015).
Table 2-3 summarizes the major research designs, along with their advantages and limitations.
Use Your Sociological Imagination Imagine you are a legislator or government policymaker working on a complex social problem. What might happen if you were to base your decision on faulty research?
Ethics of Research A biochemist cannot inject a drug into a human being unless it has been thoroughly tested and the subject agrees to the shot. To do otherwise would be both unethical and illegal. Sociologists, too, must abide by certain specific standards in conducting research, called a code of ethics. The professional society of the discipline, the American Sociological Association (ASA), first
published the society’s Code of Ethics in 1971 and reviewed it most recently in 1997. It puts forth the following basic principles:
1. Maintain objectivity and integrity in research. 2. Respect the subject’s right to privacy and dignity. 3. Protect subjects from personal harm. 4. Preserve confidentiality. 5. Seek informed consent when data are collected from research
participants or when behavior occurs in a private context. 6. Acknowledge research collaboration and assistance. 7. Disclose all sources of financial support (American Sociological
Association 1999).
These basic principles probably seem clear-cut. How could they lead to any disagreement or controversy? Yet many delicate ethical questions cannot be resolved simply by reading these seven principles. For example, should a sociologist who is engaged in participant-observation research always protect the confidentiality of subjects? What if the subjects are members of a religious cult allegedly involved in unethical and possibly illegal activities? What if the sociologist is interviewing political activists and is questioned by government authorities about the research?
Because most sociological research uses people as sources of information —as respondents to survey questions, subjects of ethnography, or participants in experiments—these sorts of questions are important. In all cases, sociologists need to be certain they are not invading their subjects’ privacy. Generally, they do so by assuring subjects of anonymity and by guaranteeing the confidentiality of personal information. In addition, research proposals that involve human subjects must now be overseen by a review board, whose members seek to ensure that subjects are not placed at an unreasonable level of risk. If necessary, the board may ask researchers to revise their research designs to conform to the code of ethics.
We can appreciate the seriousness of the ethical problems researchers confront by considering the experience of sociologist Rik Scarce, described in the next section. Scarce’s vow to protect his subjects’ confidentiality got him into considerable trouble with the law.
Confidentiality Like journalists, sociologists occasionally find themselves subject to questions from law enforcement authorities because of knowledge they have gained in the course of their work. This uncomfortable situation raises profound ethical questions.
In May 1993, Rik Scarce, a doctoral candidate in sociology at Washington State University, was jailed for contempt of court. Scarce had declined to tell a federal grand jury what he knew—or even whether he knew anything— about a 1991 raid on a university research laboratory by animal rights activists. At the time, Scarce was conducting research for a book about environmental protesters and knew at least one suspect in the break-in. Curiously, although he was chastised by a federal judge, Scarce won respect from fellow prison inmates, who regarded him as a man who “wouldn’t snitch” (Monaghan 1993:A8).
The American Sociological Association supported Scarce’s position when he appealed his sentence. Scarce maintained his silence. Ultimately the judge ruled that nothing would be gained by further incarceration, and Scarce was released after serving 159 days in jail. In January 1994, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear Scarce’s case on appeal. The Court’s failure to consider his case led Scarce (2005) to argue that federal legislation is needed to clarify the right of scholars and members of the press to preserve the confidentiality of those they interview.
Conflict of Interest Sometimes disclosing all the sources of funding for a study, as required in principle 7 of the ASA’s Code of Ethics, is not a sufficient guarantee of ethical conduct. Especially in the case of both corporate and government funding, money given ostensibly for the support of basic research may come with strings attached. Accepting funds from a private organization or even a government agency that stands to benefit from a study’s results can call into question a researcher’s objectivity and integrity (principle 1).
TAKING SOCIOLOGY TO
WORK
Dave Eberbach, Associate Director, Iowa Institute for Community Alliances
Courtesy of Dave Eberbach
Dave Eberbach is a people person who has been working with computers most of his career. In 1994 he was hired as a research coordinator by the United Way of Central Iowa. In that position he helped to create and implement Iowa’s Homeless Management Information System (HMIS), which coordinates data on housing and homeless service providers. Eberbach also collaborated with the Human Service Planning Alliance to create and maintain a “data warehouse” of social statistics from diverse sources. As a research coordinator, he found that the data helped him to identify small pockets of poverty that were generally hidden in state and county statistics.
Today, Eberbach works at the Iowa Institute for Community Alliances, a small nonprofit organization that offers computerized client management and on-site program monitoring to homeless and housing service providers. As Associate Director, Eberbach oversees a staff of seven and meets with clients who are working to improve service delivery to vulnerable people. “As fewer resources are being spent on social programs, it has been imperative to make sure that the focus of programs is on client success, not maintaining systems,” he explains.
Eberbach went to Grinnell College, where he took a variety of social science courses before settling on sociology as a major. While there, he benefited from the presence of several visiting professors, who exposed him to a variety of racial and cultural perspectives. He found that his personal acquaintance with them complemented the concepts he was learning in his
Page 38
sociology classes. Today, Eberbach draws on his college experiences in his work, which brings him into contact with a diverse group of people.
As a student, Eberbach recalls, he never thought he would use statistics in his career, and didn’t work very hard in the course. “As it turned out,” he says, “I use it nearly every day. Understanding data and statistics and being able to explain numbers to others has been very important in my job.” The reverse has also been true, however: having a background in sociology has been helpful to him in systems design. “Understanding that systems need to work for a variety of groups of people, not just folks that grew up like I did,” he explains, has been very helpful. “The world is not a computer problem or a math problem to be solved,” he continues, “but rather a complex environment where groups of people continually bump into one another.”
LET’S DISCUSS 1. Do you know what you want to be doing 10 years from now? If so, how
might a knowledge of statistics help you in your future occupation? 2. What kinds of statistics, specifically, might you find in the Human Service
Planning Alliance’s data warehouse? Where would they come from?
Another example is the Exxon Corporation’s support for research on jury verdicts. In 1989, the Exxon oil tanker Valdez hit a reef off the coast of Alaska, spilling more than 11 million gallons of oil into Prince William Sound. Five years later a federal court ordered Exxon to pay $5.3 billion in damages for the accident. Exxon appealed the verdict and began approaching legal scholars, sociologists, and psychologists who might be willing to study jury deliberations. The corporation’s objective was to develop academic support for its lawyers’ contention that the punitive judgments in such cases result from faulty deliberations and do not have a deterrent effect.
©John Gaps III/AP Images A floating containment barrier (or boom) encircles the Exxon oil tanker Valdez after it was grounded on a reef off the coast of Alaska. Exxon was found negligent in the environmental disaster and was ordered to pay $5.3 billion for the cleanup. On appeal, the company managed to reduce the damages to $500 million based on academic research that it had funded—research that some scholars believe involved a conflict of interest.
Some scholars have questioned the propriety of accepting funds under these circumstances, even if the source is disclosed. In at least one case, an Exxon employee explicitly told a sociologist that the corporation offers financial support to scholars who have shown the tendency to express views similar to its own. An argument can also be made that Exxon was attempting to set scholars’ research agendas with its huge war chest. Rather than funding studies on the improvement of cleanup technologies or the assignment of long-term environmental costs, Exxon chose to shift scientists’ attention to the validity of the legal awards in environmental cases.
The scholars who accepted Exxon’s support deny that it influenced their work or changed their conclusions. Some received support from other sources as well, such as the National Science Foundation and Harvard University’s Olin Center for Law, Economics, and Business. Many of their findings were published in respected academic journals after review by a jury of peers. Still,
Page 39
at least one researcher who participated in the studies refused monetary support from Exxon to avoid even the suggestion of a conflict of interest.
Exxon spent roughly $1 million on the research, and at least one compilation of studies congenial to the corporation’s point of view has been published. As ethical considerations require, the academics who conducted the studies disclosed Exxon’s role in funding them. Nevertheless, the investment appears to have paid off. In 2006, drawing on these studies, Exxon’s lawyers succeeded in persuading an appeals court to reduce the corporation’s legal damages from $5.3 to $2.5 billion. In 2008 Exxon appealed that judgment to the Supreme Court, which further reduced the damages to $500 million. The final award, which is to be shared by about 32,000 plaintiffs, will result in payments of about $15,000 to each person (Freudenburg 2005; Liptak 2008).
Value Neutrality The ethical considerations of sociologists lie not only in the methods they use and the funding they accept, but also in the way they interpret their results. Max Weber ([1904] 1949) recognized that personal values would influence the questions that sociologists select for research. In his view, that was perfectly acceptable, but under no conditions could a researcher allow his or her personal feelings to influence the interpretation of data. In Weber’s phrase, sociologists must practice value neutrality in their research.
As part of this neutrality, investigators have an ethical obligation to accept research findings even when the data run counter to their personal views, to theoretically based explanations, or to widely accepted beliefs. For example, Émile Durkheim challenged popular conceptions when he reported that social (rather than supernatural) forces were an important factor in suicide.
Although some sociologists believe that neutrality is impossible, ignoring the issue would be irresponsible. Let’s consider what might happen if researchers brought their own biases to the investigation. A person investigating the impact of intercollegiate sports on alumni contributions, for example, might focus only on the highly visible revenue-generating sports of football and basketball and neglect the so-called minor sports, such as tennis or soccer, which are more likely to involve women athletes. Despite the early work of W. E. B. DuBois and Jane Addams, sociologists still need to be reminded that the discipline often fails to adequately consider all people’s
social behavior. In her book The Death of White Sociology (1973), Joyce Ladner called
attention to the tendency of mainstream sociology to treat the lives of African Americans as a social problem. More recently, feminist sociologist Shulamit Reinharz (1992) has argued that sociological research should be not only inclusive but also open to bringing about social change and to drawing on relevant research by nonsociologists. Both Ladner and Reinharz maintain that researchers should always analyze whether women’s unequal social status has affected their studies in any way. For example, one might broaden the study of the impact of education on income to consider the implications of the unequal pay status of men and women. The issue of value neutrality does not mean that sociologists can’t have opinions, but it does mean that they must work to overcome any biases, however unintentional, that they may bring to their analysis of research.
Sociologist Peter Rossi (1987) admits to having liberal inclinations that direct him to certain fields of study. Yet in line with Weber’s view of value neutrality, Rossi’s commitment to rigorous research methods and objective interpretation of data has sometimes led him to controversial findings that are not necessarily supportive of his liberal values. For example, his measure of the extent of homelessness in Chicago in the mid-1980s fell far below the estimates of the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless. Coalition members bitterly attacked Rossi for hampering their social reform efforts by minimizing the extent of homelessness. Rossi (1987:79) concluded that “in the short term, good social research will often be greeted as a betrayal of one or another side to a particular controversy.”
thinking CRITICALLY Why did Max Weber specify the need for neutrality in the interpretation of data? Is complete value neutrality possible in research? To what extent should researchers try to overcome their own biases?
Feminist Methodology The feminist perspective has had a great impact on the current generation of social researchers. How might this perspective influence research? Although
Page 40
researchers must be objective, their theoretical orientation may influence the questions they ask—or just as important, the questions they fail to ask. Until recently, for example, researchers frequently studied work and the family separately. Yet feminist theorists see the two spheres of activity as being closely integrated. Similarly, work and leisure, paid and unpaid domestic work may be seen not as two separate spheres, but as two sides of the same coin.
Recently, feminist scholars have become interested in self-injury, a practice described at the beginning of this chapter. Research shows that 85 percent of self-injurers are female; feminist researchers seek to explain why women predominate in this population. Rather than treat the behavior as a medical disorder, they note that society encourages women much more than men to attend to their bodies through hair removal, skin treatments, and depigmentation. Given this heightened attention to the female body, feminists suggest that specific instances of victimization can lead women to self-injure. They also seek to better understand male self-injurers, and are testing the hypothesis that among men, self-injury is a manifestation of hypermasculinity in the tolerance of pain (P. Adler and Adler 2011:25–27, 35–36).
©Winston George/Alamy Stock Photo Feminist theorists see the global trafficking of sex workers as a sign of the close relationship between the supposedly separate worlds of industrial nations and dependent developing nations.
The feminist perspective has also had an impact on global
research. To feminist theorists, the traditional distinction between industrial nations and developing nations overlooks the close relationship between these two supposedly separate worlds. Feminist theorists have called for more research on the special role that immigrant women play in maintaining their households; on the use of domestic workers from less developed nations by households in industrial nations; and on the global trafficking of sex workers (Cheng 2003; Cooper et al. 2007; Sprague 2005).
Feminist researchers tend to involve and consult their subjects more than other researchers, and they are more oriented toward seeking change, raising the public consciousness, and influencing policy. They are particularly open to a multidisciplinary approach, such as making use of historical evidence or legal studies (T. Baker 1999; Lofland 1975; Reinharz 1992).
thinking CRITICALLY Even if women are represented in a study, could the researcher’s gender influence the data that are collected? If so, how, and how might the problem be prevented?
Queer Theory and Methodology If researchers wish to generalize about society, their findings must be representative of all people. Over the last generation, feminist theorists have insisted that women deserve as much attention from researchers as men. Similarly, exponents of queer theory ask whether researchers consider gays and lesbians in their studies, or simply assume that the generalizations they make apply to everyone, whether heterosexual, gay, or transgender.
According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, most research significantly underreports the proportion of gays and lesbians in the population; it also underestimates the percentage of people who hold anti-gay views. The bureau suggests using a “veiled reporting” technique, in which respondents are asked whether they consider themselves to be heterosexual in the context of other much less sensitive questions, such as “Did you spend a lot of time playing video games as a child?” In one study, when respondents were asked about their sexual orientation within a group of such questions, 19 percent of them reported that they were nonheterosexual; when the question
was asked more directly, the proportion was 11 percent (Coffman et al. 2013).
This study suggests that if researchers want to generalize about both heterosexuals and homosexuals, they should be extremely careful in wording questions about respondents’ sexual orientation—compared even to other sensitive topics, such as political and religious affiliations.
thinking CRITICALLY How might recent advances in gay and transgender rights affect queer studies research?
The Data-Rich Future Advances in technology have affected all aspects of our lives, and sociological research is no exception. Massive increases in available data have allowed sociologists to undertake research that was virtually impossible just a decade ago. In the recent past, only people with grants or major institutional support could work easily with large amounts of data. Now anyone with a computer can access huge amounts of data and learn more about social behavior.
When it comes to big data, the nation’s prison population offers many avenues of research—the United States has about 5 percent of the world’s population but nearly 25 percent of its prisoners. While precise numbers are difficult to obtain because of the changing prison population and the myriad of correctional departments in operation in the nation, there are nearly 7 million adults in correctional systems. Further, it is estimated that somewhere in excess of 1.7 million children under age 18 have a parent in prison or jail. These children, often in low-income households and in poor health, need help to cope with such a life-changing circumstance. For example, Sesame Street has mounted a program called “Little Children Big Challenges: Incarceration” aimed to provide comfort for children as young as three years old (Lynch 2012; Sesame Street 2018).
So do these programs help children? Further, how can they be strengthened? Sociologists delve into mounds of data to evaluate program offerings and discover ways to improve them. Weber State University
Page 41
sociologist R. C. Morris (2017) considered two programs: a Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS) mentoring program in metropolitan Indianapolis, and the national Fractured Family (FF) survey that followed 5,000 children over a period of nine years.
Morris’s hypothesis was that social intervention would reduce the likelihood that children with parents in jail would have problems such as causing property damage, stealing, and cheating in school. This research shows the importance of having data before assuming that a hypothesis is correct. Unexpectedly, the participants in the mentoring program had more problems than a similar group in the FF survey who were not in the program.
©In Pictures Ltd./Corbis via Getty Images Incarceration has a major impact on an inmate's children. Shown here, a father and his sons during an all-too-infrequent family visit session.
Why would children who received mentoring experience more problems than children who did not? The data did not reveal a simple casual effect. Analysis showed that the children in the BBBS had more reports of problems before the mentoring began compared to the control sample, so the challenges they faced were greater. Second, the mentoring program was intended to focus on school success and therefore may have had the unintended effect of leading some participants to commit academic dishonesty while trying to “succeed.” Third, the BBBS program focused on
older children than did many similar interventions, which meant the analysis was measuring the impact of the continuing incarceration of a parent more than a few more months of mentoring. In other words, the older children had to overcome the effects of longer parental incarcerations or even multiple parental absences. Morris suggests that to be effective, mentoring might need to last longer than a year and perhaps go beyond focusing on improving school grades, such as including skills that help children cope in a very stressful social environment.
We have seen that researchers rely on a number of tools, from time-tested observational research and use of existing sources to the latest in computer technology. The Social Policy section that follows will describe researchers’ efforts to survey the general population about a controversial aspect of human behavior: human sexuality. This investigation was complicated by its potential social policy implications. Because in the real world, sociological research can have far-reaching consequences for public policy and public welfare, each of the following chapters in this book will close with a Social Policy section.
thinking CRITICALLY Explain how the evaluation of the mentoring program for children with incarcerated parents reflected the different steps of the scientific method.
social policy and sociological research Studying Human Sexuality How can researchers study human sexual behavior? Neuroscientists Ogi Ogas and Sai Gaddam (2011) studied millions of web searches, websites, and videos related to sex. They found that women and men differ decidedly in their preferences, but very little (if any) distinction between heterosexuals and homosexuals, other than their sexual orientation. This type of research has significant limitations, however. Ogas and Gaddam could not distinguish between online fantasies and rational desires, or between a single search and one of many repeated searches by the same person.
Nevertheless, this cyber study is a step forward in the effort to understand human sexual behavior (Bartlett 2011).
Looking at the Issue In this age of devastating sexually transmitted diseases, there is no time more important to increase our scientific understanding of human sexuality. As we will see, however, this is a difficult topic to research, not only because of privacy concerns but because of all the preconceptions, myths, and beliefs people bring to the subject of sexuality. Many people actively oppose research on human sexuality. How does one carry out scientific research on such a controversial and personal topic?
There is little question that we live in a highly sexualized society. The mass media continually bombard us with sexual ideas and images. However, as a study released in 2015 reveals, it is women rather than men who are disproportionately sexualized, particularly in motion pictures. A content analysis of the characters in top box-office films of 2014 showed that women are much more likely than men to be shown in sexy attire, with some degree of nudity, or specifically referred to as “attractive” (see Figure 2-5).
FIGURE 2-5 WOMEN MORE SEXUALIZED THAN MEN IN TOP FILMS OF 2016
Note: Data based on analysis of 39,788 speaking or named characters in the 900 top- grossing films released in 2016. Source: Smith, Stacy L., Marc Choueiti, and Katherine Pieper. Inequality in 900 Popular Films: Examining Portrayals of Gender, Race/Ethnicity, LGBT, and Disability from 2007-2016. Los Angeles: Annenberg Center, USC, 2017, p. 15.
Applying Sociology Sociologists have little reliable national data on patterns of sexual behavior in the United States. Until the 1990s, the only comprehensive study of sexual behavior was the famous two-volume Kinsey Report, prepared in the 1940s (Kinsey et al. 1948, 1953; see also Igo 2007). Although the Kinsey Report is still widely quoted, the volunteers interviewed for the report
Page 42
were not representative of the nation’s adult population. In part, we lack reliable data on patterns of sexual behavior because it is
difficult for researchers to obtain accurate information about this sensitive subject. Moreover, until AIDS emerged in the 1980s, there was little scientific demand for data on sexual behavior, except for specific concerns such as contraception. And even though the AIDS crisis has reached dramatic proportions, government funding for studies of sexual behavior is still controversial and therefore difficult to obtain.
The controversy surrounding research on human sexual behavior raises the issue of value neutrality, which becomes especially delicate when one considers the relationship of sociology to the government. The federal government has become the major source of funding for sociological research. Yet Max Weber urged that sociology remain an autonomous discipline and not become unduly influenced by any one segment of society. According to Weber’s ideal of value neutrality, sociologists must remain free to reveal information that is embarrassing to the government, or for that matter, supportive of government institutions.
Initiating Policy In 1987 the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development sought proposals for a national survey of sexual behavior. Sociologists responded with various plans that a review panel of scientists approved for funding. However, in 1991, the U.S. Senate voted to forbid funding any survey of adult sexual practices. Despite the vote, sociologists developed the National Health and Social Life Survey (NHSLS) to better understand the sexual practices of adults in the United States. The researchers raised $1.6 million of private funding to make their study possible (Laumann et al. 1994a, 1994b).
The authors of the NHSLS believe that their research is important. They argue that data from their survey allow interest groups to more easily address public policy issues such as AIDS, sexual harassment, welfare reform, sex discrimination, abortion, teenage pregnancy, and family planning. Moreover, the research findings help to counter some commonsense notions. For instance, contrary to the popular beliefs that women regularly use abortion for birth control and that poor teens are the most likely socioeconomic group to have abortions, researchers found that three-fourths of all abortions are the first for the woman, and that well- educated and affluent women are more likely to have abortions than poor teens (Sweet 2001).
The usefulness of the NHSLS in addressing public policy issues has proved influential. As Figure 2-6 shows, scholars around the world are now studying human sexual behavior, in an effort to reduce the occurrence of HIV/AIDS.
FIGURE 2-6 MEDIAN AGE OF FIRST SEX
Source: Durex. “The Face of Global Sex 2007—First Sex: An Opportunity of a Lifetime.” 2007. Flags: ©admin_design/Shutterstock
Take the Issue with You 1. Do you see any merit in the position of those who oppose government
funding for research on sexual behavior? Explain your reasoning. 2. Exactly how could the results of research on human sexual behavior be
used to control sexually transmitted diseases? 3. Compare the issue of value neutrality in government-funded research to
the same issue in corporate-funded research. Are concerns about conflict of interest more or less serious in regard to government funding?
APPENDIX I Using Statistics and Graphs In their effort to better understand social behavior, sociologists rely heavily on numbers and statistics. For example, how have attitudes toward the
Page 43
legalization of marijuana changed over the past 50 years? A quick look at the results of 20 national surveys shows that support for legalization of the drug has increased (Figure 2-7), to the point that the most recent survey shows almost majority support for legalization.
FIGURE 2-7 CHANGING ATTITUDES TOWARD THE LEGALIZATION OF MARIJUANA
Source: Swift, Art. “Support for Legal Marijuana Use Up to 60% in U.S.,” Gallup, October 19, 2016.
Recent legislation on the state level has complicated the task of assessing public opinion on this issue. Some states have passed initiatives legalizing the possession of small amounts of marijuana, even though possession remains illegal under the federal Controlled Substances Act. Researchers now must track how public opinion differs from the national trend in states where marijuana use is both tolerated and legal.
Using Statistics The most common summary measures used by sociologists are percentages, means, modes, and medians. A percentage is a portion of 100. Use of percentages allows us to compare groups of different sizes. For example, if we were comparing financial contributors to a town’s Baptist and Roman Catholic churches, the absolute numbers of contributors in each group could be misleading if there were many more Baptists than
Catholics in the town. By using percentages, we could obtain a more meaningful comparison, showing the proportion of persons in each group who contribute to churches.
The mean, or average, is a number calculated by adding a series of values and then dividing by the number of values. For example, to find the mean of the numbers 5, 19, and 27, we would add them together (for a total of 51), divide by the number of values (3), and discover that the mean is 17.
The mode is the single most common value in a series of scores. Suppose we were looking at the following scores on a 10-point quiz:
10 10 9 9 8 8 7 7 7 6 5 The mode—the most frequent score on the quiz—is 7. While the mode is
easier to identify than other summary measures, it tells sociologists little about all the other values. Hence, you will find much less use of the mode in this book than of the mean and the median.
The median is the midpoint or number that divides a series of values into two groups of equal numbers of values. For the quiz just discussed, the median, or central value, is 8. The mean, or average, would be 86 (the sum of all scores) divided by 11 (the total number of scores), or 7.8.
Some of these statistics may seem confusing at first. But think how difficult it is to comb through an endless list of numbers to identify a pattern or central tendency. Percentages, means, modes, and medians are essential time-savers in sociological research and analysis.
Reading Graphs Tables and figures (that is, graphs) allow social scientists to display data and develop their conclusions more easily. In December 2016, the Gallup poll interviewed 1,017 people in the United States age 18 and over, by both cell phone and landlines. Each respondent was asked, “Do you think the use of marijuana should be made legal, or not?” Without some type of summary, there is no way that analysts could examine the hundreds of individual responses to this question and reach firm conclusions. One type of summary sociologists use, a cross-tabulation, shows the relationship between two or more variables. Through the cross-tabulations presented graphically in Figure 2-8, we can quickly see that older people are less likely to favor the legalization of marijuana than younger people, and that Republicans are less
Page 44
supportive of legalization than Democrats.
FIGURE 2-8 PEOPLE WHO FAVOR LEGALIZATION OF MARIJUANA BY POLITICAL AFFILIATION AND AGE
Source: Swift, Art. “Support for Legal Marijuana Use Up to 60% in U.S.,” Gallup, October 19, 2016.
Graphs, like tables, can be quite useful to sociologists. And illustrations are often easier for the general public to understand, whether in newspapers or in PowerPoint presentations. Still, as with all data, we need to be careful how they are presented.
APPENDIX II Writing a Research Report Let’s say you have decided to write a report on cohabitation (unmarried couples living together). How do you go about doing the necessary library research? Students must follow procedures similar to those used by sociologists in conducting original research. For your first step you must define the problem that you wish to study—perhaps in this case, how much cohabitation occurs and what its impact is on later marital happiness. The next step is to review the literature, which generally requires library research.
Finding Information The following steps will be helpful in finding information:
1. Don’t forget to begin with the materials closest at hand. Check this textbook and other textbooks that you own.
2. Use the library’s online catalog. Computerized library systems now access not only the college library’s collection but also books and magazines from other libraries, available through interlibrary loans. These systems allow you to search for books by author or title. You can use title searches to locate books by subject as well. For example, if you search the title base for the keyword cohabitation, you will learn where books with that word in the title are located in the library’s stacks. Near those books will be other works on cohabitation, which may not happen to have that word in the title. You may also want to search other, related keywords, such as unmarried couples.
3. Investigate using computerized periodical indexes, if they are available in your library. Sociological Abstracts online covers most sociological writing since 1952. In 2017, a search of just this one database found exactly 2,655 documents having either cohabitation or unmarried couples as words in the abstract or summary. Some dealt with laws about cohabitation, while others focused on trends in other countries. If you limited your topic to same-sex couples, you would find 169 citations. Other electronic databases cover general-interest periodicals (Time, Ms., National Review, The Atlantic, and so forth), reference materials, or newspapers. These electronic systems may be connected to a printer, allowing you to produce a printout complete with bibliographic information, and sometimes even complete copies of articles.
4. Examine government documents. The U.S. government, states and cities, and the United Nations publish information on virtually every subject of interest to social science researchers. Publications of the Census Bureau, for example, include tables showing the number of unmarried couples living together and some social characteristics of those households.
5. Ask people, organizations, and agencies concerned with the topic for information and assistance. Be as specific as possible in making requests. You might receive very different information on the issue of cohabitation from talking with marriage counselors and with clergy from different religions.
6. If you run into difficulties, consult the instructor or the reference librarian at your college library.
A word of caution: be extremely careful in using the Internet to do research. Much of the information on the Internet is simply incorrect—even if it looks authoritative, is accompanied by impressive graphics, or has been widely circulated. Unlike the information in a library, which must be screened by a highly qualified librarian, “information” on the Internet can be created and posted by anyone with a computer. Check the sources for the information and note the web page sponsor. Is the author qualified to write on the subject? Is the author even identified? Is the web page sponsor likely to be biased? Whenever possible, try to confirm what you have read on the Internet through a well-known, reputable source or organization. If the accuracy of the information could be affected by how old it is, check the date on which the page or article was created or updated. Used intelligently, the Internet is a wonderful tool that offers students access to many of the reliable print sources noted earlier, including government documents and newspaper archives extending back over a century.
Writing the Report Once you have completed all your research, you can begin writing the report. Here are a few tips:
Be sure the topic you have chosen is not too broad. You must be able to cover it adequately in a reasonable amount of time and a reasonable number of pages. Develop an outline for your report. You should have an introduction and a conclusion that relate to each other, and the discussion should proceed logically throughout the paper. Use headings within the paper if they will improve clarity and organization. Do not leave all the writing until the last minute. It is best to write a rough draft, let it sit for a few days, and then take a fresh look before beginning revisions. If possible, read your paper aloud. Doing so may be helpful in locating sections or phrases that don’t make sense.
Page 45
Remember that you must cite all information you have obtained from other sources, including the Internet. Plagiarism is a serious academic offense, for which the penalties are severe. If you use an author’s exact words, it is essential that you place them in quotation marks. Even if you reworked someone else’s ideas, you must indicate the source of those ideas.
Mastering This Chapter
Summary Sociologists are committed to the use of the scientific method in their research efforts. In this chapter we examined the basic principles of the scientific method and studied various techniques used by sociologists in conducting research.
1. There are five basic steps in the scientific method: defining the problem, reviewing the literature, formulating the hypothesis, collecting and analyzing the data, and developing the conclusion.
2. Whenever researchers wish to study abstract concepts, such as intelligence or prejudice, they must develop workable operational definitions.
3. A hypothesis states a possible relationship between two or more variables.
4. By using a sample, sociologists avoid having to test everyone in a population.
5. According to the scientific method, research results must possess both validity and reliability.
6. An important part of scientific research is devising a plan for collecting data, called a research design.
7. The two principal forms of survey research are the interview and the questionnaire.
8. Ethnography allows sociologists to study certain behaviors and communities that cannot be investigated through other research methods.
9. When sociologists wish to study a cause-and-effect relationship, they may conduct an experiment.
10. Sociologists also make use of existing sources in secondary
analysis and content analysis. 11. The Code of Ethics of the American Sociological Association calls for
objectivity and integrity in research, confidentiality, and disclosure of all sources of financial support.
12. Max Weber urged sociologists to practice value neutrality in their research by ensuring that their personal feelings do not influence their interpretation of data.
13. Technology plays an important role in sociological research, whether through a computer database or information obtained from the Internet.
14. Despite failure to obtain government funding, researchers developed the National Health and Social Life Survey (NHSLS) to better understand the sexual practices of adults in the United States.
Key Terms Applied sociology The use of the discipline of sociology to yield practical
applications for human behavior and organizations. (page 17) Causal logic The relationship between a condition or variable and a
particular consequence, with one leading to the other. (28) Code of ethics The standards of acceptable behavior developed by and for
members of a profession. (37) Content analysis The systematic coding and objective recording of data,
guided by some rationale. (36) Control group The subjects in an experiment who are not introduced to the
independent variable by the researcher. (34) Control variable A factor that is held constant to test the relative impact of
an independent variable. (31) Correlation A relationship between two variables in which a change in one
coincides with a change in the other. (28) Cross-tabulation A table or matrix that shows the relationship between two
or more variables. (43) Dependent variable The variable in a causal relationship that is subject to
the influence of another variable. (28) Ethnography The study of an entire social setting through extended
systematic fieldwork. (34) Experiment An artificially created situation that allows a researcher to
manipulate variables. (34) Experimental group The subjects in an experiment who are exposed to an
independent variable introduced by a researcher. (34)
Page 46
Hawthorne effect The unintended influence that observers of experiments can have on their subjects. (36)
Hypothesis A speculative statement about the relationship between two or more variables. (28)
Independent variable The variable in a causal relationship that causes or influences a change in another variable. (28)
Interview A face-to-face, phone, or online questioning of a respondent to obtain desired information. (32)
Mean A number calculated by adding a series of values and then dividing by the number of values. (43)
Median The midpoint or number that divides a series of values into two groups of equal numbers of values. (43)
Mode The single most common value in a series of scores. (43) Observation A research technique in which an investigator collects
information through direct participation, by closely watching a group or community. (34)
Operational definition An explanation of an abstract concept that is specific enough to allow a researcher to assess the concept. (28)
Percentage A portion of 100. (42) Qualitative research Research that relies on what is seen in field or
naturalistic settings more than on statistical data. (34) Quantitative research Research that collects and reports data primarily in
numerical form. (34) Questionnaire A printed or written form used to obtain information from a
respondent. (32) Random sample A sample for which every member of an entire population
has the same chance of being selected. (29) Reliability The extent to which a measure produces consistent results. (30) Research design A detailed plan or method for obtaining data scientifically.
(32) Sample A selection from a larger population that is statistically
representative of that population. (29) Scientific method A systematic, organized series of steps that ensures
maximum objectivity and consistency in researching a problem. (27) Secondary analysis A variety of research techniques that make use of
previously collected and publicly accessible information and data. (36)
Survey A study, generally in the form of an interview or questionnaire, that provides researchers with information about how people think and act. (32)
Validity The degree to which a measure or scale truly reflects the phenomenon under study. (30)
Value neutrality Max Weber’s term for objectivity of sociologists in the interpretation of data. (39)
Variable A measurable trait or characteristic that is subject to change under different conditions. (28)
Visual sociology The use of photographs, film, and video to study society. (35)
TAKING SOCIOLOGY With You
1. Think about a job you are interested in. How can you see yourself using research techniques—surveys, observation, experiments, or existing sources—in that occupation?
2. Pick a current issue on your campus or in your community. How would you go about studying that issue using the scientific method? Begin by defining your terms and stating a working hypothesis. Then consider the most appropriate research methods to use.
3. Choose an aspect of your day-to-day environment that could be studied using the techniques of visual sociology. How would you design a research study using these techniques?
Self-Quiz Read each question carefully and then select the best answer.
1. The first step in any sociological research project is to a. collect data. b. define the problem. c. review previous research. d. formulate a hypothesis.
2. An explanation of an abstract concept that is specific enough to allow a researcher to measure the concept is a(n) a. hypothesis. b. correlation. c. operational definition. d. variable.
3. The variable hypothesized to cause or influence another is called the
a. dependent variable. b. hypothetical variable. c. correlation variable. d. independent variable.
4. A correlation exists when a. one variable causes something to occur in another variable. b. two or more variables are causally related. c. a change in one variable coincides with a change in another
variable. d. a negative relationship exists between two variables.
5. Through which type of research technique does a sociologist ensure that data are statistically representative of the population being studied? a. sampling b. experiments c. ethnography d. control variables
6. In order to obtain a random sample, a researcher might a. administer a questionnaire to every fifth woman who enters a
business office. b. examine the attitudes of undergraduates at a college by
interviewing every 100th name in the official list of currently enrolled students.
c. study the attitudes of registered Democratic voters by choosing every 10th name found on a city’s list of registered Democrats.
d. do all of the above. 7. A researcher can obtain a higher response rate by using which type
of survey? a. an interview b. a questionnaire c. representative samples d. ethnographic techniques
8. In the 1930s, William F. Whyte moved into a low-income Italian neighborhood in Boston. For nearly four years, he was a member of the social circle of “corner boys” that he describes in Street Corner Society. His goal was to gain greater insight into the community established by these men. What type of research technique did Whyte use?
Page 47
a. experiment b. survey c. secondary analysis d. participant observation
9. When sociologists want to study a possible cause-and-effect relationship, they may engage in what kind of research technique? a. ethnography b. survey research c. secondary analysis d. experiment
10. Émile Durkheim’s statistical analysis of suicide was an example of what kind of research technique? a. ethnography b. observation research c. secondary analysis d. experimental research
11. Unlike the typical citizen, the sociologist has a commitment to use the ____________________________ ______________blank method in studying society.
12. A(n) __________________________________________blank is a speculative statement about the relationship between two or more factors known as variables.
13. __________________________________________blank refers to the degree to which a measure or scale truly reflects the phenomenon under study.
14. In order to obtain data scientifically, researchers need to select a research __________________________________________blank.
15. If scientists were testing a new type of toothpaste in an experimental setting, they would administer the toothpaste to a(n) __________ ________________________________blank group, but not to a(n) __________________________________________blank group.
16. The term __________________________________________blank refers to the unintended influence that observers of experiments can have on their subjects.
17. Using census data in a way unintended by its initial collectors would be an example of ____________________________ ______________blank.
18. Using __________________________________________blank, researchers conducted a study of gender-stereotyped behavior in
children’s coloring books. 19. The American Sociological Association’s Code of __________
________________________________blank requires sociologists to maintain objectivity and integrity and to preserve the confidentiality of their subjects.
20. As part of their commitment to ____________________________ ______________blank neutrality, investigators have an ethical obligation to accept research findings even when the data run counter to their personal views or to widely accepted beliefs.
Answers 1 (b); 2 (c); 3 (d); 4 (c); 5 (a); 6 (d); 7 (a); 8 (d); 9 (d); 10 (c); 11 scientific;
12 hypothesis; 13 Validity; 14 design; 15 experimental, control; 16 Hawthorne effect; 17 secondary analysis; 18 content analysis; 19 Ethics; 20 value
Page 48
3 Culture
©Nick Fox/Alamy Stock Photo A woman from the Mursi tribe in Ethiopia makes her way home from the local market. The Mursi are one of the last groups in Africa for whom it is the norm for women to wear a pottery or wooden lip plate beginning at the age of 15.
‣ INSIDE
What Is Culture? Role of Language Norms and Values Global Culture War Sociological Perspectives on Culture
Page 49
Cultural Variation Development of Culture around the World Social Policy and Culture: Bilingualism
What do you think of the society described here by anthropologist Horace Miner?
Could you live in such a culture?
“Nacirema culture is characterized by a highly developed market economy which has evolved in a rich natural habitat. While much of the people’s time is devoted to economic pursuits, a large part of the fruits of these labors and a considerable portion of the day are spent in ritual activity. The focus of this activity is the human body, the appearance and health of which loom as a dominant concern in the ethos of the people. While such a concern is certainly not unusual, its ceremonial aspects and associated philosophy are unique.
Source: NASA
The fundamental belief underlying the whole system appears to be that the human body is ugly and that its natural tendency is to debility and disease. Incarcerated in such a body, man’s only hope is to avert these characteristics through the use of the powerful influences of ritual and ceremony. Every household has one or more shrines devoted to this purpose. The more powerful individuals in the society have several shrines in their houses and, in fact, the opulence of a house is often referred to in terms of the number of such ritual centers it possesses. Most houses are of wattle and daub construction, but the shrine rooms of the more wealthy are walled with stone. Poorer families imitate the rich by applying pottery plaques to their shrine walls.
The focal point of the shrine is a box or chest which is built into the wall. In this chest are kept the many charms and magical potions without which no native believes he could live.
While each family has at least one such shrine, the rituals associated with it
are not family ceremonies but are private and secret. The rites are normally only discussed with children, and then only during the period when they are being initiated into these mysteries. I was able, however, to establish sufficient rapport with the natives to examine these shrines and to have the rituals described to me.
The focal point of the shrine is a box or chest which is built into the wall. In this chest are kept the many charms and magical potions without which no native believes he could live. These preparations are secured from a variety of specialized practitioners. The most powerful of these are the medicine men, whose assistance must be rewarded with substantial gifts. However, the medicine men do not provide the curative potions for their clients, but decide what the ingredients should be and then write them down in an ancient and secret language. This writing is understood only by the medicine men and by the herbalists who, for another gift, provide the required charm.
The charm is not disposed of after it has served its purpose, but is placed in the charm-box of the household shrine. As these magical materials are specific for certain ills, and the real or imagined maladies of the people are many, the charm-box is usually full to overflowing. The magical packets are so numerous that people forget what their purposes were and fear to use them again. While the natives are very vague on this point, we can only assume that the idea in retaining all the old magical materials is that their presence in the charm-box, before which the body rituals are conducted, will in some way protect the
worshipper.” Source: Miner, Horace. 1956. “Body Ritual among the Nacirema.” American Anthropologist, vol. 58 (3), 1956, pp. 503–504.
In this excerpt from his journal article “Body Ritual among the Nacirema,” Horace Miner casts an anthropologist’s observant eye on the intriguing rituals of an exotic culture. If some aspects of this culture seem familiar to you, you are right, for what Miner is describing is actually the culture of the United States (“Nacirema” is “American” spelled backward). The “shrine” Miner writes of is the bathroom; he correctly informs us that in this culture, one measure of wealth is how many bathrooms one’s home has. In their bathroom rituals, he goes on, the Nacirema use charms and magical potions (beauty products and prescription drugs) obtained from specialized practitioners (such as hair stylists), herbalists (pharmacists), and medicine men (physicians). Using our sociological imaginations, we could update Miner’s description of the Nacirema’s charms, written in 1956, by adding tooth whiteners, contact lens cases, electronic toothbrushes, and hair gel.
Page 50
When we step back and examine a culture thoughtfully and objectively, whether it is our own culture in disguise or another less familiar to us, we learn something new about society. Take Fiji, an island in the Pacific where a robust, nicely rounded body has always been the ideal for both men and women. This is a society in which traditionally, “You’ve gained weight” has been considered a compliment, and “Your legs are skinny,” an insult. Yet a recent study shows that for the first time, eating disorders have been showing up among young people in Fiji. What has happened to change their body image? Since the introduction of cable television in 1995, many Fiji islanders, especially young women, have begun to emulate not their mothers and aunts, but the small-waisted stars of television programs still airing there, like Grey’s Anatomy, Criminal Minds, and Black-ish. Studying culture in places like Fiji, then, sheds light on our society as well (A. Becker 2007; Fiji TV 2018).
In this chapter we will see just how basic the study of culture is to sociology. Our discussion will focus both on general cultural practices found in all societies and on the wide variations that can distinguish one society from another. We will define and explore the major aspects of culture, including language, norms, sanctions, and values. We will see how cultures develop a dominant ideology, and how functionalist and conflict theorists view culture. And we’ll study the development of culture around the world, including the cultural effects of globalization. Finally, in the Social Policy section, we will look at the conflicts in cultural values that underlie current debates over bilingualism.
What Is Culture? Culture is the totality of learned, socially transmitted customs, knowledge, material objects, and behavior. It includes the ideas, values, and artifacts (for example, DVDs, comic books, and birth control devices) of groups of people. Patriotic attachment to the flag of the United States is an aspect of U.S. culture, as is a national passion for the tango in Argentina’s culture.
Sometimes people refer to a particular person as “very cultured” or to a city as having “lots of culture.” That use of the term culture is different from our use in this textbook. In sociological terms, culture does not refer solely to the fine arts and refined intellectual taste. It consists of all objects and ideas within a society, including slang words, ice-cream cones, and rock music.
Sociologists consider both a portrait by Rembrandt and the work of graffiti spray painters to be aspects of culture. A tribe that cultivates soil by hand has just as much culture as a people that relies on computer-operated machinery. Each people has a distinctive culture with its own characteristic ways of gathering and preparing food, constructing homes, structuring the family, and promoting standards of right and wrong.
The fact that you share a similar culture with others helps to define the group or society to which you belong. A fairly large number of people are said to constitute a society when they live in the same territory, are relatively independent of people outside their area, and participate in a common culture. Metropolitan Los Angeles is more populous than at least 150 nations, yet sociologists do not consider it a society in its own right. Rather, they see it as part of—and dependent on—the larger society of the United States.
© Rob Watkins/Alamy Stock Photo Play ball! Baseball in Finland is not the same game we know in North America. The pitcher stands next to the batter and throws the ball up to be hit. If successful, the batter runs to first base (where we would expect third base to be). Surveys show that baseball is the second most popular sport
(after ice hockey) among men and the most popular among women. Introduced in 1907, baseball evolved very differently in Finland than in the United States, but in both countries it is a vital part of the culture.
A society is the largest form of human group. It consists of people who share a common heritage and culture. Members of the society learn this culture and transmit it from one generation to the next. They even preserve their distinctive culture through literature, art, video recordings, and other means of expression.
Sociologists have long recognized the many ways in which culture influences human behavior. Through what has been termed a tool kit of habits, skills, and styles, people of a common culture construct their acquisition of knowledge, their interactions with kinfolk, their entrance into the job market—in short, the way in which they live. If it were not for the social transmission of culture, each generation would have to reinvent television, not to mention the wheel (Swidler 1986).
Having a common culture also simplifies many day-to-day interactions. For example, when you buy an airline ticket, you know you don’t have to bring along hundreds of dollars in cash. You can pay with a credit card. When you are part of a society, you take for granted many small (as well as more important) cultural patterns. You assume that theaters will provide seats for the audience, that physicians will not disclose confidential information, and that parents will be careful when crossing the street with young children. All these assumptions reflect basic values, beliefs, and customs of the culture of the United States.
Today, when text, sound, and video can be transmitted around the world instantaneously, some aspects of culture transcend national borders. The German philosopher Theodor Adorno and others have spoken of the worldwide “culture industry” that standardizes the goods and services demanded by consumers. Adorno contends that globally, the primary effect of popular culture is to limit people’s choices. Yet others have shown that the culture industry’s influence does not always permeate international borders. Sometimes the culture industry is embraced; at other times, soundly rejected (Adorno [1971] 1991:98–106; Horkheimer and Adorno [1944] 2002).
Cultural Universals
Page 51
All societies have developed certain common practices and beliefs, known as cultural universals. Many cultural universals are, in fact, adaptations to meet essential human needs, such as the need for food, shelter, and clothing. Polish-born anthropologist George Murdock (1945:124) compiled a list of cultural universals, including athletic sports, cooking, dancing, visiting, personal names, marriage, medicine, religious ritual, funeral ceremonies, sexual restrictions, and trade.
The cultural practices Murdock listed may be universal, but the manner in which they are expressed varies from culture to culture. For example, one society may let its members choose their marriage partners; another may encourage marriages arranged by the parents.
Not only does the expression of cultural universals vary from one society to another; within a society, it may also change dramatically over time. Each generation, and each year for that matter, most human cultures change and expand.
Ethnocentrism Many everyday statements reflect our attitude that our culture is best. We use terms such as underdeveloped, backward, and primitive to refer to other societies. What “we” believe is a religion; what “they” believe is superstition and mythology.
It is tempting to evaluate the practices of other cultures on the basis of our perspectives. Sociologist William Graham Sumner (1906) coined the term ethnocentrism to refer to the tendency to assume that one’s own culture and way of life represent the norm or are superior to all others. The ethnocentric person sees his or her group as the center or defining point of culture and views all other cultures as deviations from what is “normal.” Westerners who think cattle are to be used for food might look down on India’s Hindu religion and culture, which view the cow as sacred. Or people in one culture may dismiss as unthinkable the mate selection or child-rearing practices of another culture. In sum, our view of the world is dramatically influenced by the society in which we were raised.
Ethnocentrism is hardly limited to citizens of the United States. Visitors from many African cultures are surprised at the disrespect that children in the United States show their parents. People from India may be repelled by our practice of living in the same household with dogs and cats. Many Islamic
fundamentalists in the Arab world and Asia view the United States as corrupt, decadent, and doomed to destruction. All these people may feel comforted by membership in cultures that in their view are superior to ours.
Cultural Relativism While ethnocentrism means evaluating foreign cultures using the familiar culture of the observer as a standard of correct behavior, cultural relativism means viewing people’s behavior from the perspective of their own culture. It places a priority on understanding other cultures, rather than dismissing them as “strange” or “exotic.” Unlike ethnocentrists, cultural relativists employ the kind of value neutrality in scientific study that Max Weber saw as so important.
Cultural relativism stresses that different social contexts give rise to different norms and values. Thus, we must examine practices such as polygamy, bullfighting, and monarchy within the particular contexts of the cultures in which they are found. Although cultural relativism does not suggest that we must unquestionably accept every cultural variation, it does require a serious and unbiased effort to evaluate norms, values, and customs in light of their distinctive culture.
Consider the practice of children marrying adults. Most people in North America cannot fathom the idea of a 12-year-old girl marrying. The custom, which is illegal in the United States, is common in West Africa and South Asia. Should the United States respect such marriages? The apparent answer is no. In 2006 the U.S. government spent $623 million to discourage the practice in many of the countries with the highest child-marriage rates (Figure 3-1).
MAPPING LIFE WORLDWIDE
FIGURE 3-1 COUNTRIES WITH HIGH CHILD MARRIAGE RATES
Note: Data are the most recent available, ranging from 2005 to 2013. In 24 countries, 40 percent or more of the women under 18 are married. Source: UNICEF. “Child Marriage in 2005–2014.” 2014.
From the perspective of cultural relativism, we might ask whether one society should spend its resources to dictate the norms of another. However, federal officials have defended the government’s actions. They contend that child marriage deprives girls of education, threatens their health, and weakens public health efforts to combat HIV/AIDS (Jain and Kurz 2007; B. Slavin 2007).
Sociobiology and Culture While sociology emphasizes diversity and change in the expression of culture, another school of thought, sociobiology, stresses the universal aspects of culture. Sociobiology is the systematic study of how biology affects human social behavior. Sociobiologists assert that many of the cultural traits humans display, such as the almost universal expectation that women will be nurturers and men will be providers, are not learned but are rooted in our genetic makeup.
Sociobiology is founded on the naturalist Charles Darwin’s (1859) theory of evolution. In traveling the world, Darwin had noted small variations in species—in the shape of a bird’s beak, for example—from one location to another. He theorized that over hundreds of generations, random variations in genetic makeup had helped certain members of a species to survive in a particular environment. A bird with a differently shaped beak might have been better at gathering seeds than other birds, for instance. In reproducing, these lucky individuals had passed on their advantageous genes to succeeding generations. Eventually, given their advantage in survival, individuals with the variation began to outnumber other members of the species. The species was slowly adapting to its environment. Darwin called this process of adaptation to the environment through random genetic variation natural selection.
Sociobiologists apply Darwin’s principle of natural selection to the study of social behavior. They assume that particular forms of behavior become genetically linked to a species if they contribute to its fitness to survive (van den Berghe 1978). In its extreme form, sociobiology suggests that all behavior is the result of genetic or biological factors, and that social interactions play no role in shaping people’s conduct.
Sociobiologists do not seek to describe individual behavior on the level of “Why is Fred more aggressive than Jim?” Rather, they focus on how human nature is affected by the genetic composition of a group of people who share certain characteristics (such as men or women, or members of isolated tribal bands). In general, sociobiologists have stressed the basic genetic heritage that all humans share and have shown little interest in speculating about alleged differences between racial groups or nationalities. A few researchers have tried to trace specific behaviors, like criminal activity, to certain genetic markers, but those markers are not deterministic. Family cohesiveness, peer group behavior, and other social factors can override genetic influences on behavior (Guo et al. 2008; E. Wilson 1975, 1978).
Certainly most social scientists agree that there is a biological basis for social behavior. However, regardless of their theoretical position, most sociologists would likewise agree that people’s behavior, not their genetic structure, defines social reality. Conflict theorists fear that the sociobiological approach could be used as an argument against efforts to assist disadvantaged people, such as schoolchildren who are not competing successfully (Freese
Page 522008; Machalek and Martin 2010; E. Wilson 2000).
thinking CRITICALLY Select three cultural universals from George Murdock’s list and analyze them from a functionalist perspective. Why are these practices found in every culture? What functions do they serve?
Role of Language Language is one of the major elements of culture. It is also an important component of cultural capital. Recall from Chapter 1 that Pierre Bourdieu used the term cultural capital to describe noneconomic assets, such as family background and past educational investments, which are reflected in a person’s knowledge of language and the arts.
Members of a society generally share a common language, which facilitates day-to-day exchanges with others. When you ask a hardware store clerk for a flashlight, you don’t need to draw a picture of the instrument. You share the same cultural term for a small, portable, battery-operated light. However, if you were in England and needed this item, you would have to ask for an electric torch. Of course, even within the same society, a term can have a number of different meanings. In the United States, pot signifies both a container that is used for cooking and an intoxicating drug. In this section we will examine the cultural influence of language, which includes both the written and spoken word and nonverbal communication.
Language: Written and Spoken Seven thousand languages are spoken in the world today—many more than the number of countries. For the speakers of each one, whether they number 2,000 or 200 million, language is fundamental to their shared culture.
The English language, for example, makes extensive use of words dealing with war. We speak of “conquering” space, “fighting” the “battle” of the budget, “waging war” on drugs, making a “killing” on the stock market, and “bombing” an examination; something monumental or great is “the bomb.” An observer from an entirely different culture could gauge the importance that war and the military have had in our lives simply by recognizing the
Page 53
prominence that militaristic terms have in our language. Similarly, the Sami people of northern Norway and Sweden have a rich diversity of terms for snow, ice, and reindeer (Haviland et al. 2015; Magga 2006).
Courtesy of the Oneida Indian Nation A native speaker trains instructors from the Oneida Nation of New York in the Berlitz method of language teaching. As of 2015, there were 770 speakers of the Oneida language. Many Native American tribes are taking similar steps to recover their seldom used languages, realizing that language is the essential foundation of any culture.
Language is the foundation of every culture. Language is an abstract system of word meanings and symbols for all aspects of culture. It includes speech, written characters, numerals, symbols, and nonverbal gestures and expressions. Because language is the foundation of every culture, the ability to speak other languages is crucial to intercultural relations. Throughout the Cold War era, beginning in the 1950s and continuing well into the 1970s, the
U.S. government encouraged the study of Russian by developing special language schools for diplomats and military advisers who dealt with the Soviet Union. And following September 11, 2001, the nation recognized how few skilled translators it had for Arabic and other languages spoken in Muslim countries. Language quickly became a key not only to tracking potential terrorists, but also to building diplomatic bridges with Muslim countries willing to help in the war against terrorism.
Language does more than simply describe reality; it also serves to shape the reality of a culture. For example, most people in the United States cannot easily make the verbal distinctions concerning snow and ice that are possible in the Sami culture. As a result, they are less likely to notice such differences.
For decades, the Navajo have referred to cancer as lood doo na’dziihii. Now, through a project funded by the National Cancer Institute, the tribal college is seeking to change the phrase. Why? Literally, the phrase means “the sore that does not heal,” and health educators are concerned that tribal members who have been diagnosed with cancer view it as a death sentence. Their effort to change the Navajo language, not easy in itself, is complicated by the Navajo belief that to talk about the disease is to bring it on one’s people (Fonseca 2008).
Similarly, feminist theorists have noted that gender-related language can reflect—although in itself it does not determine—the traditional acceptance of men and women in certain occupations. Each time we use a term such as mailman, policeman, or fireman, we are implying (especially to young children) that these occupations can be filled only by males. Yet many women work as mail carriers, police officers, and firefighters—a fact that is being increasingly recognized and legitimized through the use of such nonsexist language.
Language can shape how we see, taste, smell, feel, and hear. It also influences the way we think about the people, ideas, and objects around us. Language communicates a culture’s most important norms, values, and sanctions. That’s why the decline of an old language or the introduction of a new one is such a sensitive issue in many parts of the world (see the Social Policy section at the end of this chapter).
Interaction increasingly takes place via mobile devices rather than face to face. Social scientists are beginning to investigate how language used in texting varies in different societies and cultures. For example, in much of
Africa, small farmers use texting for the vital task of checking commodity prices. You probably use texting to perform a wide range of communication tasks.
Nonverbal Communication If you don’t like the way a meeting is going, you might suddenly sit back, fold your arms, and turn down the corners of your mouth. When you see a friend in tears, you may give a quick hug. After winning a big game, you probably high-five your teammates. These are all examples of nonverbal communication, the use of gestures, facial expressions, and other visual images to communicate.
We are not born with these expressions. We learn them, just as we learn other forms of language, from people who share our same culture. This statement is as true for the basic expressions of happiness and sadness as it is for more complex emotions, such as shame or distress (Fridlund et al. 1987).
Like other forms of language, nonverbal communication is not the same in all cultures. For example, sociological research done at the micro level documents that people from various cultures differ in the degree to which they touch others during the course of normal social interactions. Even experienced travelers are sometimes caught off guard by these differences. In Saudi Arabia, a middle-aged man may want to hold hands with a partner after closing a business deal. In Egypt, men walk hand in hand in the street; in cafés, they fall asleep while lounging in each other’s arms. These gestures, which would shock an American businessman, are considered compliments in those cultures. The meaning of hand signals is another form of nonverbal communication that can differ from one culture to the next. In Australia, the thumbs-up sign is considered rude (Passero 2002; Vaughan 2007).
Page 54
© LM Otero/AP Images Symbols can be powerful, yet different people may understand them in different ways. In recent years there has been a call to remove or place in a different context statues and other monuments honoring the Confederate States of America because of the inherent meaning they represent. Others feel that such symbols represent important values of the past. Here we see a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee being removed by Dallas city workers in 2017.
A related form of communication is the use of symbols to convey meaning to others. Symbols are the gestures, objects, and words that form the basis of human communication. The thumbs-up gesture, a gold star sticker, and the smiley face in an e-mail are all symbols. Often deceptively simple, many symbols are rich in meaning and may not convey the same meaning in all social contexts. Around someone’s neck, for example, a cross
can symbolize religious reverence; over a grave site, a belief in everlasting life; or set in flames, racial hatred. Box 3-1 describes the delicate task of designing an appropriate symbol for the 9/11 memorial at New York’s former World Trade Center—one that would have meaning for everyone who lost loved ones there, regardless of nationality or religious faith.
SOCIOLOGY IN THE GLOBAL COMMUNITY
3-1 Symbolizing 9/11 On September 11, 2001, the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers took only minutes to collapse. Nearly a decade later, the creator of the memorial to those lost that day was still perfecting the site plan. Thirty-four-year-old architect Michael Arad, the man who submitted the winning design, had drawn two sunken squares, measuring an acre each, in the footprints left by the collapsed towers. His design, “Reflecting Absence,” places each empty square in a reflecting pool surrounded by cascading water. Today, as visitors to the massive memorial stand at the edge of the site, they are struck by both the sound of the thundering water and the absence of life.
The memorial does not encompass the entire area destroyed in the attack, as some had wanted. In one of the great commercial capitals of the world, economic forces demanded that some part of the property produce income. Others had argued against constructing a memorial of any kind on what they regarded as hallowed ground. “Don’t build on my sister’s grave,” one of them pleaded. They too had to compromise. On all sides of the eight- acre memorial site, new high-rises have been and continue to be built. When construction is finished, the site will also accommodate a new underground transit hub.
Originally, the architect’s plans called for the 2,982 victims of the attack to be listed elsewhere on the site. Today, in a revised plan, the names are displayed prominently along the sides of the reflecting pool. Arad had suggested that they be placed randomly, to symbolize the “haphazard brutality of life.” Survivors objected, perhaps because they worried about locating their loved ones’ names. In a compromise, the names were chiseled into the bronze walls of the memorial in groups that Arad calls “meaningful adjacencies”: friends and co-workers; fellow passengers on the
two downed aircraft, arranged by seat number; and first responders, grouped by their agencies or fire companies. Suggestions that would give first responders special recognition were set aside. The list includes victims of the simultaneous attack on the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and passengers on the flight headed for the White House, who were attempting to thwart the attack when the plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. The six people who perished in the 1993 truck bombing at the World Trade Center are also memorialized.
© McGraw-Hill Education/Erica Simone Leeds, photographer
Numerous small monuments and simple plaques grace intersections throughout metropolitan New York, particularly those that had a direct line of sight to the Twin Towers.
Also at Ground Zero is the National September 11 Memorial Museum, which opened with great anticipation as well as criticism. Some objected to showing pictures of the 19 hijackers, on the grounds that this would symbolically honor them. Others objected to images that would seem to objectify the victims. Unusual for a museum, recording studios were installed to allow visitors to record where they were on 9/11, remember the
victims, or respond to the exhibits. Away from Ground Zero, symbols of 9/11 abound. Numerous small
monuments and simple plaques grace intersections throughout metropolitan New York, particularly those that had a direct line of sight to the Twin Towers. In hundreds of cities worldwide, scraps of steel from the twisted buildings and remnants of destroyed emergency vehicles have been incorporated into memorials. And the USS New York, whose bow was forged from seven and a half tons of steel debris salvaged from the towers, has served as a working symbol of 9/11 since its commissioning in 2009.
LET’S DISCUSS 1. What does the 9/11 memorial symbolize to you? Explain the meaning of
the cascading water, the reflecting pools, and the empty footprints. What does the placement of the victims’ names suggest?
2. If you were designing a 9/11 memorial, what symbol or symbols would you incorporate? Use your sociological imagination to predict how various groups would respond to your design.
Sources: Blais and Rasic 2011; Cohen 2012; Kennicott 2011; Needham 2011.
thinking CRITICALLY Explain how the way you communicate verbally and nonverbally can be a form of cultural capital.
Norms and Values “Wash your hands before dinner.” “Thou shalt not kill.” “Respect your elders.” All societies have ways of encouraging and enforcing what they view as appropriate behavior while discouraging and punishing what they consider to be inappropriate behavior. They also have a collective idea of what is good and desirable in life—or not. In this section we will learn to distinguish between the closely related concepts of norms and values.
Norms Norms are the established standards of behavior maintained by a society. For a norm to become significant, it must be widely shared and understood. For example, in movie theaters in the United States, we typically expect that people will be quiet while the film is shown. Of course, the application of this norm can vary, depending on the particular film and type of audience. People who are viewing a serious artistic film will be more likely to insist on the norm of silence than those who are watching a slapstick comedy or horror movie.
One persistent social norm in contemporary society is that of heterosexuality. As sociologists, and queer theorists especially, note, children are socialized to accept this norm from a very young age. Overwhelmingly, parents describe adult romantic relationships to their children exclusively as heterosexual relationships. That is not necessarily because they consider same-sex relationships unacceptable, but more likely because they see heterosexuality as the norm in marital partnerships. According to a national survey of mothers of three- to six-year-olds, one in five mothers teaches her young children that homosexuality is wrong. The same survey showed that parenting reflects the dominant ideology, in which homosexuality is treated as a rare exception. Most parents assume that their children are heterosexual; only one in four has even considered whether his or her child might grow up to be gay or lesbian (K. Martin 2009).
Types of Norms Sociologists distinguish between norms in two ways. First, norms are classified as either formal or informal. Formal norms generally have been written down and specify strict punishments for violators. In the United States, we often formalize norms into laws, which are very precise in defining proper and improper behavior. Sociologist Donald Black (1995) has termed law “governmental social control,” meaning that laws are formal norms enforced by the state. Laws are just one example of formal norms. Parking restrictions and the rules of a football or basketball game are also considered formal norms.
In contrast, informal norms are generally understood but not precisely recorded. Standards of proper dress are a common example of informal norms. Our society has no specific punishment, or sanction, for a person who
Page 55
Page 56
shows up at school or work wearing inappropriate clothing. Laughter is usually the most likely response.
Norms are also classified by their relative importance to society. When classified in this way, they are known as mores and folkways. Mores (pronounced “mor-ays”) are norms deemed highly necessary to the welfare of a society, often because they embody the most cherished principles of a people. Each society demands obedience to its mores; violation can lead to severe penalties. Thus, the United States has strong mores against murder, treason, and child abuse, which have been institutionalized into formal norms.
Folkways are norms governing everyday behavior. Folkways play an important role in shaping the daily behavior of members of a culture. Society is less likely to formalize folkways than mores, and their violation raises comparatively little concern. For example, walking up a down escalator in a department store challenges our standards of appropriate behavior, but it will not result in a fine or a jail sentence.
Use Your Sociological Imagination You are a high school principal. What norms would you want to govern the students’ behavior? How might those norms differ from norms appropriate for college students?
Norms and Sanctions Suppose a football coach sends a 12th player onto the field. Imagine a college graduate showing up in shorts for a job interview at a large bank. Or consider a driver who neglects to put money in a parking meter. These people have violated widely shared and understood norms. So what happens? In each of these situations, the person will receive sanctions if his or her behavior is detected.
Sanctions are penalties and rewards for conduct concerning a social norm. Note that the concept of reward is included in this definition. Conformity to a norm can lead to positive sanctions such as a pay raise, a medal, a word of gratitude, or a pat on the back. Failure to conform can lead to negative sanctions such as fines, threats, imprisonment, and stares of contempt.
Table 3-1 summarizes the relationship between norms and sanctions. As
you can see, the sanctions that are associated with formal norms (which are written down and codified) tend to be formal as well. If a college football coach sends too many players onto the field, the team will be penalized 15 yards. The driver who fails to put money in the parking meter will receive a ticket and have to pay a fine. But sanctions for violations of informal norms can vary. The college graduate who goes to the bank interview in shorts will probably lose any chance of getting the job; on the other hand, he or she might be so brilliant that bank officials will overlook the unconventional attire.
The entire fabric of norms and sanctions in a culture reflects that culture’s values and priorities. The most cherished values will be most heavily sanctioned; matters regarded as less critical will carry light and informal sanctions.
Acceptance of Norms People do not follow norms, whether formal or informal, in all situations. In some cases, they can evade a norm because they know it is weakly enforced. It is illegal for U.S. teenagers to drink alcoholic beverages, yet drinking by minors is common throughout the nation. (In fact, teenage alcoholism is a serious social problem.)
In some instances, behavior that appears to violate society’s norms may actually represent adherence to the norms of a particular group. Teenage drinkers are conforming to the standards of their peer group when they
violate norms that condemn underage drinking. Similarly, business executives who use shady accounting techniques may be responding to a corporate culture that demands the maximization of profits at any cost, including the deception of investors and government regulatory agencies.
Norms are violated in some instances because one norm conflicts with another. For example, suppose that you live in an apartment building and one night hear the screams of the woman next door, who is being beaten by her husband. If you decide to intervene by ringing their doorbell or calling the police, you are violating the norm of minding your own business, while following the norm of assisting a victim of violence.
Acceptance of norms is subject to change as the political, economic, and social conditions of a culture are transformed. Until the 1960s, for example, formal norms throughout much of the United States prohibited the marriage of people from different racial groups. Over the past half century, however, such legal prohibitions were cast aside. The process of change can be seen today in the increasing acceptance of single parents and even more in the legalization of same-sex marriage.
When circumstances require the sudden violation of long-standing cultural norms, the change can upset an entire population. In Iraq, where Muslim custom strictly forbids touching by strangers for men and especially for women, the war that began in 2003 brought numerous daily violations of the norm. Outside important mosques, government offices, and other facilities likely to be targeted by terrorists, visitors had to be patted down and have their bags searched by Iraqi security guards. To reduce the discomfort caused by the procedure, women were searched by female guards and men by male guards. Despite that concession, and the fact that many Iraqis admitted or even insisted on the need for such measures, people still winced at the invasion of their personal privacy. In reaction to the searches, Iraqi women began to limit the contents of the bags they carried or simply to leave them at home (Rubin 2003).
thinking CRITICALLY In the United States, is the norm of heterosexuality a formal norm or an informal norm? Would you categorize it with mores or folkways? Explain your reasoning.
Page 57
Values Though we each have a personal set of values—which may include caring or fitness or success in business—we also share a general set of values as members of a society. Cultural values are these collective conceptions of what is considered good, desirable, and proper—or bad, undesirable, and improper—in a culture. They indicate what people in a given culture prefer as well as what they find important and morally right (or wrong). Values may be specific, such as honoring one’s parents and owning a home, or they may be more general, such as health, love, and democracy. Of course, the members of a society do not uniformly share its values. Angry political debates and billboards promoting conflicting causes tell us that much.
Values influence people’s behavior and serve as criteria for evaluating the actions of others. The values, norms, and sanctions of a culture are often directly related. For example, if a culture places a high value on the institution of marriage, it may have norms (and strict sanctions) that prohibit the act of adultery or make divorce difficult. If a culture views private property as a basic value, it will probably have stiff laws against theft and vandalism.
The values of a culture may change, but most remain relatively stable during any one person’s lifetime. Socially shared, intensely felt values are a fundamental part of our lives in the United States. Sociologist Robin Williams (1970) has offered a list of basic values. It includes achievement, efficiency, material comfort, nationalism, equality, and the supremacy of science and reason over faith. Obviously, not all 326 million people in this country agree on all these values, but such a list serves as a starting point in defining the national character.
Each year nearly 142,000 full-time, newly entering students at nearly 200 of the nation’s four-year colleges fill out a questionnaire about their values. Because this survey focuses on an array of issues, beliefs, and life goals, it is commonly cited as a barometer of the nation’s values. The respondents are asked what values are personally important to them. Over the past half century, the value of “being very well-off financially” has shown the strongest gain in popularity; the proportion of first-year college students who endorse this value as “essential” or “very important” rose from 42 percent in 1966 to 82 percent in 2016 (Figure 3-2).
FIGURE 3-2 LIFE GOALS OF FIRST-YEAR COLLEGE STUDENTS IN THE UNITED STATES, 1966–2016
Sources: Eagan et al. 2017:47; Pryor et al. 2007
SOCIOLOGY ON CAMPUS
3-2 A Culture of Cheating? A Harvard teaching assistant noticed something strange while grading students’ take-home exams. Several students had cited the same obscure event in 1912. Curiously, all had responded to another question using the same wording. The assistant looked more closely. Eventually, Harvard launched a formal investigation of 125 students suspected of plagiarism and illicit collaboration. At the same time, in New York City more than 70 students at a high school for high achievers were caught sharing test information using their cell phones.
Now that students do their research online, the temptation to cut and paste passages from website postings and pass them off as one’s own is apparently irresistible to many. In 2012, 51 percent of high school students admitted cheating on a test, and 75 percent of them copied homework.
Research suggests that the proportion of students who cheat is even higher among college students. According to the International Center for Academic Integrity, 68 percent of undergraduates and 43 percent of graduate students admit to cheating on tests and written assignments. Students not only cut passages from the Internet and paste them into their papers without citing the source; they share questions and answers on exams, collaborate on assignments they are supposed to do independently, and even falsify the results of their laboratory experiments.
© Eric Audras/PhotoAlto Agency RF Collections/Getty Images
According to the International Center for Academic Integrity, 68 percent of undergraduates and 43 percent of graduate students admit to cheating on tests and written assignments.
To address what they consider an alarming trend, many colleges are rewriting or adopting new academic honor codes. Observers contend that the increase in student cheating reflects widely publicized instances of cheating in public life, which have served to create an alternative set of values in which the end justifies the means. When young people see sports
heroes, authors, entertainers, and corporate executives exposed for cheating in one form or another, the message seems to be “Cheating is okay, as long as you don’t get caught.”
LET’S DISCUSS
1. Do you know anyone who has engaged in Internet plagiarism? What about cheating on tests or falsifying laboratory results? If so, how did the person justify these forms of dishonesty?
2. Even if cheaters aren’t caught, what negative effects does their academic dishonesty have on them? What effects does it have on students who are honest? Could an entire college or university suffer from students’ dishonesty?
Sources: Argetsinger and Krim 2002; Bartlett 2009; Sarah Glazer 2013; International Center for Academic Integrity 2018; R. Thomas 2003; Toppo 2011; Zernike 2002.
Beginning in the 1980s, support for values having to do with money, power, and status grew. But so too did concern about racial tolerance. The proportion of students concerned with helping to promote racial tolerance reached a record high of 46.9 percent in 2016. Like other aspects of culture, such as language and norms, a nation’s values are not necessarily fixed.
Whether the slogan is “Think Green” or “Reduce Your Carbon Footprint,” students have been exposed to values associated with environmentalism. How many of them accept those values? Poll results over the past 50 years show fluctuations, with a high of nearly 46 percent of students indicating a desire to become involved in cleaning up the environment. By the 1980s, however, student support for embracing this objective had dropped to around 20 percent or even lower (see Figure 3-2). Even with recent attention to climate change, the proportion reached only 34 percent of first-year students in 2016.
Recently, cheating has become a hot issue on college campuses. Professors who take advantage of computerized services that can identify plagiarism have been shocked to learn that many of the papers their students hand in are plagiarized in whole or in part. Box 3-2 examines the shift in values that underlies this decline in academic integrity.
Values can also differ in subtle ways not just among individuals and
groups, but from one culture to another. For example, in Japan, young children spend long hours working with tutors, preparing for entrance exams required for admission to selective schools. No stigma is attached to these services, known as “cram schools”; in fact, they are highly valued. Yet in South Korea, people have begun to complain that cram schools give affluent students an unfair advantage. Since 2008, the South Korean government has regulated the after-school tutoring industry, limiting its hours and imposing fees on the schools. Some think this policy has lowered their society’s expectations of students, describing it as an attempt to make South Koreans “more American” (Ramstad 2011; Ripley 2011).
Another example of cultural differences in values is public opinion regarding the treatment of different racial and ethnic groups. Again, as Figure 3-3 shows, opinion on the acceptability of premarital cohabitation varies dramatically from one country to another.
FIGURE 3-3 VALUES: ACCEPTANCE OF NONMARITAL COHABITATION
Sources: International Survey Social Programme. “ISSP 2012- Family and Changing Gender Roles IV Variable Report.” October 29. Cologne
Page 58
Germany: GESIS Leibniz Institute for Social Sciences, 2014. Flags: © admin_design/Shutterstock
Global Culture War For almost a generation, public attention in the United States has focused on what has been referred to as the “culture war,” or the polarization of society over controversial cultural elements. Originally, in the 1990s, the term referred to political debates over heated issues such as abortion, religious expression, gun control, and sexual orientation. Soon, however, it took on a global meaning—especially after 9/11, as Americans wondered, “Why do they hate us?” Through 2000, global studies of public opinion had reported favorable views of the United States in countries as diverse as Morocco and Germany. But after the United States established a military presence in Iraq and Afghanistan and then took an anti-immigrant and anti-refugee position beginning in 2016, foreign opinion of the United States became quite negative (Pew Research Center Global Attitudes and Trends, 2017).
In the past 30 years, extensive efforts have been made to compare values in different nations, recognizing the challenges in interpreting value concepts in a similar manner across cultures. Psychologist Shalom Schwartz has measured values in more than 60 countries. Around the world, certain values are widely shared, including benevolence, which is defined as “forgiveness and loyalty.” In contrast, power, defined as “control or dominance over people and resources,” is a value that is endorsed much less often (Hitlin and Piliavin 2004; S. Schwartz and Bardi 2001).
Despite this evidence of shared values, some scholars have interpreted the terrorism, genocide, wars, and military occupations of the early 21st century as a “clash of civilizations.” According to this thesis, cultural and religious identities, rather than national or political loyalties, are becoming the prime source of international conflict. Critics of this thesis point out that conflict over values is nothing new; only our ability to create havoc and violence has grown. Furthermore, speaking of a clash of “civilizations” disguises the sharp divisions that exist within large groups. Christianity, for example, runs the gamut from Quaker-style pacifism to certain elements of the Ku Klux Klan’s ideology (Brooks 2011; Huntington 1993; Said 2001; Schrad 2014).
Page 59
thinking CRITICALLY Do you believe that the world is experiencing a clash of civilizations rather than of nations, as some scholars assert? Why or why not?
Sociological Perspectives on Culture Functionalist and conflict theorists agree that culture and society are mutually supportive, but for different reasons. Functionalists maintain that social stability requires a consensus and the support of society’s members; strong central values and common norms provide that support. This view of culture became popular in sociology beginning in the 1950s. It was borrowed from British anthropologists who saw cultural traits as a stabilizing element in a culture. From a functionalist perspective, a cultural trait or practice will persist if it performs functions that society seems to need or contributes to overall social stability and consensus.
Conflict theorists agree that a common culture may exist, but they argue that it serves to maintain the privileges of certain groups. Moreover, while protecting their self-interest, powerful groups may keep others in a subservient position. The term dominant ideology describes the set of cultural beliefs and practices that helps to maintain powerful social, economic, and political interests. This concept was first used by Hungarian Marxist Georg Lukacs (1923) and Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci (1929), but it did not gain an audience in the United States until the early 1970s. In Karl Marx’s view, a capitalist society has a dominant ideology that serves the interests of the ruling class.
From a conflict perspective, the dominant ideology has major social significance. Not only do a society’s most powerful groups and institutions control wealth and property; even more important, they control the means of producing beliefs about reality through religion, education, and the media. Feminists would also argue that if all a society’s most important institutions tell women they should be subservient to men, that dominant ideology will help to control women and keep them in a subordinate position.
A growing number of social scientists believe that it is not easy to identify a core culture in the United States. For support, they point to the lack of consensus on national values, the diffusion of cultural traits, the diversity
within our culture, and the changing views of young people (look again at Figure 3-2). Instead, they suggest that the core culture provides the tools that people of all persuasions need to develop strategies for social change. Still, there is no denying that certain expressions of values have greater influence than others, even in as complex a society as the United States (Swidler 1986).
Table 3-2 summarizes the major sociological perspectives on culture.
thinking CRITICALLY Look around your campus. Do the people you see suggest that the United States has a core culture with a dominant ideology, or a diverse culture with differing values and ideologies? What about the city or town where your college or university is located—does it suggest the same conclusion?
Cultural Variation Despite the presence of cultural universals such as courtship and religion, great diversity exists among the world’s many cultures. Inuit tribes in northern Canada, dressed in fur for the hunt, share little with farmers in southeast Asia, who dress lightly for work in their hot, humid rice paddies. Cultures adapt to meet specific circumstances, such as climate, level of technology, population, and geography.
Even within a single nation, certain segments of the populace develop cultural patterns that differ from the patterns of the dominant society—thus the difficulty of identifying a core culture in the United States, where regional
Page 60
differences fuel culture wars between conservatives and liberals. Moreover, in every region, specific communities tend to band together to form their own culture within a culture, called a subculture.
Subcultures Rodeo riders, residents of a retirement community, workers on an offshore oil rig—all are examples of what sociologists refer to as subcultures. A subculture is a segment of society that shares a distinctive pattern of customs, rules, and traditions that differs from the pattern of the larger society. The existence of many subcultures is characteristic of complex societies such as the United States.
Members of a subculture participate in the dominant culture while engaging in unique and distinctive forms of behavior. Frequently, a subculture will develop an argot, or specialized language that distinguishes it from the wider society. Athletes who play parkour, an extreme sport that combines forward running with fence leaping and the vaulting of walls, water barriers, and even moving cars, speak an argot they devised especially to describe their feats. Parkour runners talk about doing King Kong vaults—diving arms first over a wall or grocery cart and landing in a standing position. They may follow this maneuver with a tic tac—kicking off a wall to overcome some kind of obstacle (Kidder 2012).
Such argot allows insiders—the members of the subculture—to understand words with special meanings. It also establishes patterns of communication that outsiders can’t understand. Sociologists associated with the interactionist perspective emphasize that language and symbols offer a powerful way for a subculture to feel cohesive and maintain its identity.
In India, a new subculture has developed among employees at the international call centers established by multinational corporations. To serve customers in the United States and Europe, the young men and women who work there must be fluent speakers of English. But the corporations that employ them demand more than proficiency in a foreign language; they expect their Indian employees to adopt Western values and work habits, including the grueling pace U.S. workers take for granted.
In effect, workers at these call centers live in a state of virtual migration— not quite in India, but not in the United States, either. Significantly, call centers allow employees to take the day off only on U.S. holidays, like Labor
Day and Thanksgiving—not on Indian holidays like Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights. While most Indian families are home celebrating, call center employees see only each other; when they have the day off, no one else is free to socialize with them. As a result, these employees have formed a tight- knit subculture based on hard work and a taste for Western luxury goods and leisure-time pursuits (Rowe et al. 2013).
© Christine Pemberton/The Image Works Employees of an international call center in India socialize after their shift has ended. Call center employees, whose odd working hours isolate them from others, tend to form tight-knit subcultures.
Another shared characteristic among some employees at Indian call centers is their contempt for the callers they serve. In performing their monotonous, repetitive job day after day, hundreds of thousands of these workers have come to see the faceless Americans they deal with as slow, often rude customers. Such shared understandings underpin this emerging subculture (Bhagat 2007; Gentleman 2006; Patel 2010).
However, we do not need to make cross-national comparisons to identify different ways of viewing society. The racial and ethnic diversity of the United States underscores how divergently different groups can view what is
really important to society (Box 3-3).
RESEARCH TODAY
3-3 How Millennials View The Nation: Racial and Ethnic Vantage Points We read about continuing progress since the days of the Civil Rights movements and hear about the “postracial America” heralded by the election of Barack Obama. However, the reality is that members of different racial and ethnic groups see America very differently. In May 2017, a national survey asked millennials (young adults age 18 to 34) to name the most important issues facing the nation. Respondents could select among several dozen areas, including economic growth, military strength, crime, and social security. Here are the results for White non-Hispanics:
White non-Hispanics: #1 health care, #2 terrorism and home security, #3 national debt.
These all seem reasonable choices. But consider how differently millennials who were members of racial and ethnic minorities saw the nation at the same time:
African Americans: #1 racism, #2 heath care, #3 poverty and education (tied). Asian Americans: #1 health care, #2 education, #3 immigration. Latino(a)s: #1 immigration, #2 racism, #3 terrorism and home security.
While there are some common concerns, we can identify important differences across race and ethnicity that likely reflect the millennials’
lived experiences.
While there are some common concerns about health care, we can identify important differences across race and ethnicity that likely reflect the millennials’ lived experiences. Both African Americans and Latino(a)s emphasized racism; both Asian Americans and Latino(a)s, immigration.
Page 61
Neither made the top three for Whites. In a survey conducted just a few months earlier, at the time of the
polarizing presidential race between Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton, all three minority groups noted racism as one of the top three issues, and African Americans listed “police brutality” as the number two issue facing the nation. Neither racism nor police brutality made it on the top ten list of White non-Hispanics.
LET’S DISCUSS 1. How would you rank the issues discussed in order of importance? Do
you think your ranking reflects your racial or ethnic affiliation? 2. Why do you think the different groups’ views are so divergent? Do you
think this would be the case for people of other age groups?
Sources: Cohen, Luttig, and Rogowski 2017; GenForward 2016.
Countercultures By the end of the 1960s, an extensive subculture had emerged in the United States, composed of young people turned off by a society they believed was too materialistic and technological. The group included primarily political radicals and hippies who had dropped out of mainstream social institutions. These young men and women rejected the pressure to accumulate cars, homes, and an endless array of material goods. Instead, they expressed a desire to live in a culture based on more humanistic values, such as sharing, love, and coexistence with the environment. As a political force, this subculture opposed the United States’ involvement in the war in Vietnam and encouraged draft resistance (Flacks 1971; Roszak 1969).
When a subculture conspicuously and deliberately opposes certain aspects of the larger culture, it is known as a counterculture. Countercultures typically thrive among the young, who have the least investment in the existing culture. In most cases, a 20-year-old can adjust to new cultural standards more easily than someone who has spent 60 years following the patterns of the dominant culture (Zellner 1995).
In the last decade, counterterrorism experts have become concerned about the growth of ultraconservative militia groups in the United States. Secretive
Page 62
and well armed, members of these countercultural groups tend to be antigovernment, and they often tolerate racism in their midst. Watchdogs estimate that 663 antigovernment groups are operating in the United States today (Southern Poverty Law Center 2017).
Culture Shock Ever stepped out the door on your first day in a foreign country and felt weak in the knees? Anyone who feels disoriented, uncertain, out of place, or even fearful when immersed in an unfamiliar culture may be experiencing culture shock. This unsettling experience may even be mutual—the visitor’s cultural habits may shock members of the host culture. Imagine, for example, that you are traveling in Japan. You know that you should remove your shoes and leave them at the door when you visit someone’s home. However, there are many more customs that you are unfamiliar with. During a visit with one family, as you enter the bathroom, you see several pairs of identical slippers. Thinking they are for guests, you put on a pair and rejoin your host, who reacts with horror. Unwittingly, you have worn a pair of toilet slippers into the living room (McLane 2013).
All of us, to some extent, take for granted the cultural practices of our society. As a result, it can be surprising and even disturbing to realize that other cultures do not follow our way of life. The fact is, customs that seem strange to us may be considered normal and proper in other cultures, which may see our social practices as odd.
© Tyler Cacek/Redux Pictures Members of the militia group Ohio Defense Force engage in paramilitary exercises, imagining they are destroying a threatening Muslim stronghold in the United States. Ultraconservative militia groups are a form of counterculture.
Use Your Sociological Imagination You arrive in a developing African country as a Peace Corps volunteer. What aspects of a very different culture do you think would be the hardest to adjust to? Explain. What might the citizens of that country find shocking about your culture?
Development of Culture around the World Today, despite the preference most of us have for our own way of life, powerful forces link us to others around the world. Thus, students in the United States may study the novels of Leo Tolstoy, the art of Pablo Picasso, or the films of Ang Lee. They may listen to pop music from Nigeria or South Korea, or follow the progress of social movements in Iran, Egypt, or Syria
via satellite TV and social media. In this section we will examine two of the social processes that make these global links possible: innovation and the diffusion of culture through globalization and technology.
Innovation The process of introducing a new idea or object to a culture is known as innovation. Innovation interests sociologists because of the social consequences of introducing something new. There are two forms of innovation: discovery and invention. Discovery involves making known or sharing the existence of an aspect of reality. The finding of the structure of the DNA molecule and the identification of a new moon of Saturn are both acts of discovery. A significant factor in the process of discovery is the sharing of newfound knowledge with others. In contrast, an invention results when existing cultural items are combined into a form that did not exist before. The bow and arrow, the automobile, and the television are all examples of inventions, as are Protestantism and democracy.
© Frank Zeller/AFP/Getty Images Members of Big Toe Crew, a Vietnamese hip-hop group, rehearse for a performance. Through tourism and the mass media, music and dance spread from one culture to another in a process called diffusion.
Globalization, Diffusion, and Technology The emergence of Starbucks, the worldwide chain of coffeehouses, is just one illustration of the rapidly escalating trend toward globalization (see Chapter 1). While people in Asia are beginning to enjoy coffee, people in North America have discovered sushi, which has evolved from a once-exotic dish in the United States to a mainstream food commonly found in supermarket refrigerators. Yet its move across the Pacific has changed the delicacy. Americans tend to treat sushi as a take-out or menu item. The authentic way to eat sushi is to sit at a bar and engage the chef in conversation about the day’s catch.
More and more cultural expressions and practices are crossing national borders and affecting the traditions and customs of the societies exposed to them. Sociologists use the term diffusion to refer to the process by which a cultural item spreads from group to group or society to society. Diffusion can occur through a variety of means, among them exploration, military conquest, missionary work, and the influence of the mass media, tourism, the Internet (Box 3-4), and the fast-food restaurant.
SOCIOLOGY IN THE GLOBAL COMMUNITY
3-4 Life in the Global Village Imagine a “borderless world” in which culture, trade, commerce, money, and even people move freely from one place to another. Popular culture is widely shared, whether it be Japanese sushi or U.S. running shoes, and the English speaker who answers questions over the telephone about your credit card account is as likely to be in India or Ireland as in the United States. In this world, even the sovereignty of nations is at risk, challenged by political movements and ideologies that span nations.
What caused this great wave of cultural diffusion? First, sociologists take note of advances in communications technology. Satellite TV, cell phones, the Internet, and the like allow information to flow freely across the world,
linking global markets. Consumers can view videos on handheld devices and surf the Internet on their phones, shopping online from cars, airports, and cafeterias. Second, corporations in the industrial nations have become multinational, with both factories and markets in developing countries. Business leaders welcome the opportunity to sell consumer goods in populous countries such as China. Third, these multinational firms have cooperated with global financial institutions, organizations, and governments to promote free trade—unrestricted or lightly restricted commerce across national borders.
Even superhero movies and Lady Gaga may be seen as threats to native cultures.
Globalization is not universally welcomed. Many critics see the dominance of “businesses without borders” as benefiting the rich, particularly the very wealthy in industrial countries, at the expense of the poor in less developed nations. They consider globalization to be a successor to the imperialism and colonialism that oppressed Third World nations for centuries.
Another criticism of globalization comes from people who feel overwhelmed by global culture. Embedded in the concept of globalization is the notion of the cultural domination of developing nations by more affluent nations. Simply put, people lose their traditional values and begin to identify with the culture of dominant nations. They may discard or neglect their native languages and dress as they attempt to copy the icons of mass- market entertainment and fashion. Even superhero movies and Lady Gaga may be seen as threats to native cultures, if they dominate the media at the expense of local art forms. As Sembene Ousmane, one of Africa’s most prominent writers and filmmakers, noted, “[Today] we are more familiar with European fairy tales than with our own traditional stories” (World Development Forum 1990:4).
Globalization has its positive side, too. Many developing nations are taking their place in the world of commerce and bringing in much needed income. The communications revolution helps people to stay connected and gives them access to knowledge that can improve living standards and even save lives.
LET’S DISCUSS 1. How are you affected by globalization? Which aspects of globalization do
you find advantageous and which objectionable?
Page 63
2. How would you feel if the customs and traditions you grew up with were replaced by the culture or values of another country? How might you try to protect your culture?
Sources: Dodds 2000; Giddens 1991; Hirst and Thompson 1996; D. Martin et al. 2006; Ritzer and Dean 2015; Sernau 2001; Tedeschi 2006.
Sociologist George Ritzer coined the term McDonaldization of society to describe how the principles of fast-food restaurants, developed in the United States, have come to dominate more and more sectors of societies throughout the world. For example, hair salons and medical clinics now take walk-ins. In Hong Kong, sex selection clinics offer a menu of items, from fertility enhancement to methods of increasing the likelihood of having a child of the desired sex. And religious groups—from evangelical preachers on local stations or websites to priests at the Vatican Television Center—use marketing techniques similar to those that are used to sell Happy Meals.
McDonaldization is associated with the melding of cultures, through which we see more and more similarities in cultural expression. In Japan, for example, African entrepreneurs have found a thriving market for hip-hop fashions popularized by teens in the United States. Similarly, the familiar Golden Arches of McDonald’s can be seen around the world. Yet corporations like McDonald’s have had to make some adjustments of their own. Until 2001, McDonald’s ran its overseas operations from corporate headquarters in suburban Chicago.
After a few false starts, executives at McDonald’s recognized the need to develop the restaurant’s menus and marketing strategies overseas, relying on advice from local people. Now, at over 3,700 restaurants in Japan, customers can enjoy the Mega Tamago Burger—beef, bacon, and fried egg with special sauces. In India, patrons who don’t eat beef can order a vegetarian McAloo Tikki potato burger. Because some strict vegetarians in India refuse to eat among nonvegetarians, in 2013 McDonald’s began opening vegetarian-only restaurants there (Gasparro and Jargon 2012; Ritzer 2015).
Technology in its many forms has increased the speed of cultural diffusion and broadened the distribution of cultural elements. Sociologist Gerhard Lenski has defined technology as “cultural information about the ways in which the material resources of the environment may be used to satisfy
Page 64
human needs and desires” (Nolan and Lenski 2015:357). Today’s technological developments no longer await publication in journals with limited circulation. Press conferences, often carried simultaneously on the Internet, trumpet the new developments.
Technology not only accelerates the diffusion of scientific innovations but also transmits culture. The English language and North American culture dominate the Internet and World Wide Web. Such control, or at least dominance, of technology influences the direction of cultural diffusion. For example, websites cover even the most superficial aspects of U.S. culture but offer little information about the pressing issues faced by citizens of other nations. People all over the world find it easier to visit electronic chat rooms about the latest reality TV shows than to learn about their own governments’ policies on day care or infant nutrition.
Use Your Sociological Imagination If you grew up in your parents’ generation—without computers, e-mail, and smartphones—how would your daily life differ from the one you lead today?
© Robert Laberge/Getty Images When a society’s nonmaterial culture (its values and laws) does not keep pace with rapid changes in its material culture, people experience an awkward period of maladjustment called culture lag. The transition to nuclear power generation that began in the second half of the 20th century brought widespread protests against the new technology, as well as serious accidents that government officials were poorly prepared to deal with. Tensions over the controversial technology have not run as high in some countries as in
others, however. France, where this nuclear power plant is situated, generates 75 percent of all its electricity through nuclear power. The technology is not as controversial there as in the United States and Canada, which generate less than 20 percent of their electricity through nuclear reaction.
Sociologist William F. Ogburn (1922) made a useful distinction between the elements of material and nonmaterial culture. Material culture refers to the physical or technological aspects of our daily lives, including food, houses, factories, and raw materials. Nonmaterial culture refers to ways of using material objects, as well as to customs, beliefs, philosophies, governments, and patterns of communication. Generally, the nonmaterial culture is more resistant to change than the material culture. Consequently, Ogburn introduced the term culture lag to refer to the period of maladjustment when the nonmaterial culture is still struggling to adapt to new material conditions. For example, in 2010, manufacturers introduced electronic cigarettes, battery-powered tubes that turn nicotine-laced liquid into a vapor mist. The innovation soon had officials at airlines (which ban smoking) and the Food and Drug Administration scrambling to respond to the latest technology (Kesmodel and Yadron 2010; Swidler 1986).
Resistance to technological change can lead not only to culture lag, but to some real questions of cultural survival (Box 3-5).
SOCIOLOGY IN THE GLOBAL COMMUNITY
3-5 Cultural Survival in Brazil When the first Portuguese ships landed on the coast of what we now know as Brazil, more than 2 million people inhabited the vast, mineral-rich land. The natives lived in small, isolated settlements, spoke a variety of languages, and embraced many different cultural traditions.
Today, over five centuries later, Brazil’s population has grown to more than 208 million, only about 900,000 of whom are indigenous peoples
descended from the original inhabitants. Over 240 different indigenous groups have survived, living a life tied closely to the land and the rivers, just as their ancestors did. But over the past two generations, their numbers have dwindled as booms in mining, logging, oil drilling, and agriculture have encroached on their land and their settlements (Survival International 2017).
Many indigenous groups were once nomads, moving around from one hunting or fishing ground to another. Now they are hemmed in on the reservations the government confined them to, surrounded by huge farms or ranches whose owners deny their right to live off the land. State officials may insist that laws restrict the development of indigenous lands, but indigenous peoples tell a different story. In Mato Grosso, a heavily forested state near the Amazon River, loggers have been clear-cutting the land at a rate that alarms the Bororo, an indigenous group that has lived in the area for centuries. According to one elder, the Bororo are now confined to six small reservations of about 500 square miles—much less than the area officially granted them in the 19th century.
In Mato Grosso, a heavily forested state near the Amazon River, loggers have been clear- cutting the land at a rate that alarms the Bororo.
In the face of dwindling resources, indigenous groups like the Bororo struggle to maintain their culture. Though the tribe still observes the traditional initiation rites for adolescent boys, members are finding it difficult to continue their hunting and fishing rituals, given the scarcity of game and fish in the area. Pesticides in the runoff from nearby farms have poisoned the water they fish and bathe in, threatening both their health and their culture’s survival.
LET’S DISCUSS 1. Compare the frontier in Brazil today to the American West in the 1800s.
What similarities do you see? 2. What does society lose when indigenous cultures die?
Sources: Brazier and Hamed 2007; H. Chu 2005; Survival International 2016.
Page 65
thinking CRITICALLY Name one culturally significant discovery and one culturally significant invention that have occurred in your lifetime. Explain how these innovations have affected the culture to which you belong.
social policy and culture Bilingualism
Looking at the Issue The staff in the emergency room is unprepared. Although the issue is not a medical one, the doctors and nurses do not understand the patient’s complaints, nor can they communicate effectively with her companion. This type of incident, which occurs frequently, can have serious consequences. According to a study of two large pediatric emergency departments in Massachusetts, even when the second language is a common one like Spanish, interpreting errors can lead to clinically significant mistakes in 22 percent of such cases. In other words, language errors put patients at risk (Flores et al. 2012).
How can we learn to work and live effectively when Americans speak so many different languages? Throughout the world, not just emergency rooms but schools and other institutions must deal with people who speak many languages. Bilingualism refers to the use of two languages in a particular setting, such as the workplace or schoolroom, treating each language as equally legitimate. Thus, a teacher of bilingual education may instruct children in their native language while gradually introducing them to the language of the host society. If the curriculum is also bicultural, children will learn about the mores and folkways of both the dominant culture and the subculture.
To what degree should schools in the United States present the curriculum in a language other than English? This issue has prompted a great deal of debate among educators and policymakers. According to the Bureau of the Census, 66 million U.S. residents over age five—that’s about 22 percent of the population—spoke a language other than English as their primary language at home in 2016 (Figure 3-4). Indeed, 29 other languages are each spoken by at least 200,000 U.S. residents (American Community Survey 2016a; C. Ryan 2013).
MAPPING LIFE NATIONWIDE
FIGURE 3-4 PERCENTAGE OF PEOPLE WHO SPEAK A LANGUAGE OTHER THAN ENGLISH AT HOME, BY STATE
Note: Data for 2016 for people 5 years of age or older. National average was 21.6 percent. Sources: American Community Survey 2016: R1601.
This trend toward a modestly increasing linguistic diversity is expected to continue into the foreseeable future. Even as the children and grandchildren of immigrants adopt English as their first language, a significant proportion of the U.S. population will continue to speak a language other than English (Ortman and Shin 2011).
Do bilingual programs help the children of these families to learn English? It is difficult to reach firm conclusions, because bilingual programs in general vary so widely in their quality and approach. They differ in the length of the transition to English and in how long they allow students to remain in bilingual classrooms. Moreover, results have been mixed. In the years since California effectively dismantled its bilingual education program, reading and math scores of students with limited English proficiency rose dramatically, especially in the lower grades. Yet a major overview of 17 studies, done at Johns Hopkins University, found that students who are offered lessons in both English and their home languages make better progress than similar students who are taught only in English (Goldenberg and Wagner 2015; R. Slavin and Cheung 2003).
Applying Sociology
Page 66
For a long time, people in the United States demanded conformity to a single language. This demand coincided with the functionalist view that language serves to unify members of a society. Little respect was granted to immigrants’ cultural traditions; a young person would often be teased about his or her “funny” name, accent, or style of dress.
Recent decades have seen challenges to this pattern of forced obedience to the dominant ideology. Beginning in the 1960s, active movements for Black pride and ethnic pride insisted that people regard the traditions of all racial and ethnic subcultures as legitimate and important. Conflict theorists explain this development as a case of subordinated language minorities seeking opportunities for self-expression. Partly as a result of these challenges, people began to view bilingualism as an asset. It seemed to provide a sensitive way of assisting millions of non-English-speaking people in the United States to learn English in order to function more effectively within the society.
The perspective of conflict theory also helps us to understand some of the attacks on bilingual programs. Many of them stem from an ethnocentric point of view, which holds that any deviation from the majority is bad. This attitude tends to be expressed by those who wish to stamp out foreign influence wherever it occurs, especially in our schools. It does not take into account that success in bilingual education may actually have beneficial results, such as decreasing the number of high school dropouts and increasing the number of Hispanics in colleges and universities.
Initiating Policy Bilingualism has policy implications largely in two areas: efforts to maintain language purity and programs to enhance bilingual education. Nations vary dramatically in their tolerance for a variety of languages. China continues to tighten its cultural control over Tibet by extending instruction of Mandarin, a Chinese dialect, from high school into the elementary schools there, which will now be bilingual along with Tibetan. In contrast, nearby Singapore establishes English as the medium of instruction but allows students to take their mother tongue as a second language, be it Chinese, Malay, or Tamil.
One bilingual hot spot is Québec, the French-speaking province of Canada. The Québécois, as they are known, represent 83 percent of the province’s population, but only 25 percent of Canada’s total population. A law implemented in 1978 mandated education in French for all Québec’s children except those whose parents or siblings had learned English elsewhere in Canada. While special laws like this one have advanced French in the province, dissatisfied Québécois have tried to form their own separate country. In 1995, the people of Québec indicated their preference of remaining united with Canada by only the narrowest of margins (50.5 percent). Language and language-related cultural areas both unify and
divide this nation of 33 million people (The Economist 2005b; R. Schaefer 2019).
Policymakers in the United States have been somewhat ambivalent in dealing with the issue of bilingualism. In 1965, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) provided for bilingual, bicultural education. In the 1970s, the federal government took an active role in establishing the proper form for bilingual programs. However, more recently, federal policy has been less supportive of bilingualism, and local school districts have been forced to provide an increased share of funding for their bilingual programs. Yet bilingual programs are an expense that many communities and states are unwilling to pay for and are quick to cut back. In 1998, voters in California approved a proposition that all but eliminated bilingual education: it requires instruction in English for 1.4 million children who are not fluent in the language.
In the United States, repeated efforts have been made to introduce a constitutional amendment declaring English as the nation’s official language. As of 2018, 32 states had declared English their official language —an action that is now more symbolic than legislative in its significance. However, in 2018, the lobbying group ProEnglish met twice with White House officials seeking their support in repealing a 2000 government action that mandates foreign language translations of certain government documents and forms.
Public concern over a potential decline in the use of English appears to be overblown. In reality, most immigrants and their offspring quickly become fluent in English and abandon their mother tongue. Nevertheless, many people are impatient with those immigrants who continue to use their mother tongue. The release in 2006 of “Nuestro Himno,” the Spanish- language version of the “Star-Spangled Banner,” produced a strong public reaction: 69 percent of those who were surveyed on the topic said the anthem should be sung only in English. In reaction against the Spanish version, at least one congressman defiantly sang the national anthem in English—with incorrect lyrics. And the proprietor of a restaurant in Philadelphia posted signs advising patrons that he would accept orders for his famous steak sandwiches only in English. Throughout the year, passions ran high as policymakers debated how much support to afford people who speak other languages (J. Carroll 2006; Guschov 2018; U.S. English 2018).
In the end, the immigrant’s experience is not only about learning a new language. It is about learning a whole new culture—a new totality of socially transmitted customs, knowledge, material objects, and behavior.
Take the Issue with You 1. Have you attended a school with students for whom English is a second
Page 67
language? If so, can you identify the presence of different cultures or subcultures?
2. The ultimate goal of both English-only and bilingual programs is for foreign-born students to become proficient in English. In what ways is this goal functional? Analyze the goal of such programs from the conflict and interactionist perspectives.
3. Besides bilingualism, can you think of another issue that has become controversial recently because of a clash of cultures? If so, analyze the issue from a sociological point of view.
Mastering This Chapter
Summary Culture is the totality of learned, socially transmitted customs, knowledge, material objects, and behavior. This chapter examines social practices common to all cultures, the basic elements that make up a culture, and variations that distinguish one culture from another.
1. A shared culture helps to define the group or society to which we belong.
2. Anthropologist George Murdock compiled a list of cultural universals, or common practices found in every culture, including marriage, sports, cooking, medicine, and sexual restrictions.
3. People who assume that their culture is superior to others engage in ethnocentrism. In contrast, cultural relativism is the practice of viewing other people’s behavior from the perspective of their own culture.
4. Language, an important element of culture, includes speech, written characters, numerals, and symbols, as well as gestures and other forms of nonverbal communication. Language both describes culture and shapes it.
5. Sociologists distinguish between norms in two ways, classifying them as formal or informal and as mores or folkways.
6. The formal norms of a culture will carry the heaviest sanctions; informal norms will carry light sanctions.
7. The dominant ideology of a culture is the set of cultural beliefs and
practices that helps to maintain powerful social, economic, and political interests.
8. In a sense, a subculture can be thought of as a small culture that exists within a larger, dominant culture. Countercultures are subcultures that deliberately oppose aspects of the larger culture.
9. Culture is constantly expanding through the process of innovation, which includes both discovery and invention.
10. Diffusion—the spread of cultural items from one place to another— has fostered globalization. Still, people resist ideas that seem too foreign, as well as those they perceive as threatening to their values and beliefs.
11. The social policy of bilingualism calls for the use of two languages, treating each as equally legitimate. It is supported by those who want to ease the transition of non-native-language speakers into a host society, but opposed by those who adhere to a single cultural tradition and language.
Key Terms Argot Specialized language used by members of a group or subculture.
(page 59) Bilingualism The use of two languages in a particular setting, such as the
workplace or schoolroom, treating each language as equally legitimate. (65)
Counterculture A subculture that deliberately opposes certain aspects of the larger culture. (60)
Cultural capital Noneconomic goods, such as family background and education, which are reflected in a knowledge of language and the arts. (52)
Cultural relativism The viewing of people’s behavior from the perspective of their own culture. (51)
Cultural universal A common practice or belief found in every culture. (50) Culture The totality of learned, socially transmitted customs, knowledge,
material objects, and behavior. (50) Culture lag A period of maladjustment when the nonmaterial culture is still
struggling to adapt to new material conditions. (64) Culture shock The feeling of surprise and disorientation that people
experience when they encounter cultural practices that are different from their own. (61)
Diffusion The process by which a cultural item spreads from group to group or society to society. (62)
Discovery The process of making known or sharing the existence of an aspect of reality. (62)
Dominant ideology A set of cultural beliefs and practices that helps to maintain powerful social, economic, and political interests. (58)
Ethnocentrism The tendency to assume that one’s own culture and way of life represent the norm or are superior to all others. (51)
Folkway A norm governing everyday behavior whose violation raises comparatively little concern. (55)
Formal norm A norm that has been written down and that specifies strict punishments for violators. (54)
Informal norm A norm that is generally understood but not precisely recorded. (54)
Innovation The process of introducing a new idea or object to a culture through discovery or invention. (62)
Invention The combination of existing cultural items into a form that did not exist before. (62)
Language An abstract system of word meanings and symbols for all aspects of culture; includes gestures and other nonverbal communication. (53)
Law Governmental social control. (54) Material culture The physical or technological aspects of our daily lives.
(64) Mores Norms deemed highly necessary to the welfare of a society. (54) Nonmaterial culture Ways of using material objects, as well as customs,
beliefs, philosophies, governments, and patterns of communication. (64)
Norm An established standard of behavior maintained by a society. (54) Sanction A penalty or reward for conduct concerning a social norm. (56) Society A fairly large number of people who live in the same territory, are
relatively independent of people outside their area, and participate in a common culture. (50)
Sociobiology The systematic study of how biology affects human social behavior. (51)
Subculture A segment of society that shares a distinctive pattern of customs, rules, and traditions that differs from the pattern of the larger society. (59)
Symbol A gesture, object, or word that forms the basis of human communication. (53)
Technology Cultural information about the ways in which the material resources of the environment may be used to satisfy human needs
Page 68
and desires. (53) Value A collective conception of what is considered good, desirable, and
proper—or bad, undesirable, and improper—in a culture. (56)
TAKING SOCIOLOGY With You
1. Locate ethnocentrism. For two days, bearing in mind what sociologists mean by ethnocentrism, systematically record the places where you see or hear evidence of it.
2. Study popular culture. For two days, record whatever evidence of the dominant culture you see on the Internet or in literature, music, movies, theater, television programs, and sporting events.
3. Document a subculture. For two days, record the norms, values, sanctions, and argot evident in a subculture you are familiar with.
Self-Quiz Read each question carefully and then select the best answer.
1. Which of the following is an aspect of culture? a. a comic book b. patriotic attachment to the flag of the United States c. slang words d. all of the above
2. People’s adaptations to meet the needs for food, shelter, and clothing are examples of what George Murdock referred to as a. norms. b. folkways. c. cultural universals. d. sanctions.
3. What term do sociologists use to refer to the process by which a cultural item spreads from group to group or society to society? a. diffusion b. globalization c. innovation d. cultural relativism
4. The appearance of Starbucks coffeehouses in China is a sign of what
aspect of culture? a. innovation b. globalization c. diffusion d. cultural relativism
5. Which statement about language is correct? a. Language is a major element of culture. b. A common language facilitates everyday interaction. c. Thousands of languages are spoken around the world. d. All of the above.
6. Which of the following statements about norms is correct? a. People do not follow norms in all situations. In some cases, they
evade a norm because they know it is weakly enforced. b. In some instances, behavior that appears to violate society’s
norms may actually represent adherence to the norms of a particular group.
c. Norms are violated in some instances because one norm conflicts with another.
d. all of the above 7. Which of the following statements about values is correct?
a. Values never change. b. The values of a culture may change, but most remain relatively
stable during any one person’s lifetime. c. Values are constantly changing; sociologists view them as being
very unstable. d. all of the above
8. Which of the following terms describes the set of cultural beliefs and practices that help to maintain powerful social, economic, and political interests? a. mores b. dominant ideology c. consensus d. values
9. Terrorist groups are examples of a. cultural universals. b. subcultures. c. countercultures.
d. dominant ideologies. 10. What is the term used when one places a priority on understanding
other cultures, rather than dismissing them as “strange” or “exotic”? a. ethnocentrism b. culture shock c. cultural relativism d. cultural value
11. __________________________________________blank are gestures, objects, and/or words that form the basis of human communication.
12. __________________________________________blank is the process of introducing a new idea or object to a culture.
13. The bow and arrow, the automobile, and the television are all examples of _____________________________ _____________blank.
14. Sociologists associated with the _____________________________ _____________blank perspective emphasize that language and symbols offer a powerful way for a subculture to maintain its identity.
15. “Put on some clean clothes for dinner” and “Thou shalt not kill” are both examples of _____________________________ _____________blank found in U.S. culture.
16. The United States has strong _____________________________ _____________blank against murder, treason, and other forms of abuse that have been institutionalized into formal norms.
17. From a(n) __________________________________________blank perspective, the dominant ideology has major social significance. Not only do a society’s most powerful groups and institutions control wealth and property; more important, they control the means of production.
18. Countercultures (for example, hippies) are typically popular among the __________________________________________blank, who have the least investment in the existing culture.
19. A person experiences _____________________________ _____________blank _____________________________ _____________blank when he or she feels disoriented, uncertain, out of place, even fearful when immersed in an unfamiliar culture.
20. From the __________________________________________blank perspective, subcultures are evidence that differences can exist within a common culture.
Answers
1 (d); 2 (c); 3 (a); 4 (b); 5 (d); 6 (d); 7 (b); 8 (b); 9 (c); 10 (c); 11 Symbols; 12 Innovation; 13 inventions; 14 interactionist; 15 norms; 16 mores; 17 conflict; 18 young; 19 culture shock; 20 functionalist
Page 69
4 Socialization and the Life Course
©Mike Kemp/Getty Images A father teaches his son to ride a bike. Around the world, the family is the most important agent of socialization.
‣ INSIDE
The Role of Socialization The Self and Socialization Agents of Socialization Socialization throughout the Life Course
Page 70
Role Transitions throughout the Life Course Social Policy and Sociological Research: Child Care around the World
What would it be like to grow up in a family that isolates itself from society? What would it be like to break away from such an upbringing and discover the outside world for the first time?
Filmmaker Crystal Moselle documented the efforts of the six Angulo brothers, who grew up confined in a small apartment on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, to discover the social world outside their family. Her documentary, The Wolfpack, attempted to simultaneously capture the excitement of the brothers’ discoveries while suggesting the issues of abuse and confinement that arise from their extraordinary upbringing.
©Moviestore collection Ltd/Alamy Stock Photo
“It was serendipitous that I met these boys the first week they started going out into the world. It almost felt as if I had discovered a long lost tribe, except it
was not from the edges of the world but from the streets of Manhattan. I was moved by their openness, resilience and sense of humor, and I formed a trust with them that could never be duplicated. I have been by their side as they experienced the outside world for the first time. . . . It has been an incredible journey for all of us, and it is strange to think that this story could never be told the same way again, with the same sense of innocence and discovery. Their minds and perceptions have already incorporated the rest of the outside world.
About five years ago, I was cruising down First Avenue in the East Village and these kids with long hair ran past me, weaving through the crowd. I counted one, two, three of them . . . then three more. . . . I asked where they were from and they said ‘Delancy Street.’ They mentioned how they were not supposed to talk to strangers but wondered what I did for a living. When I told them that I was a filmmaker, they got really excited, exclaiming, ‘We are interested in getting into the business of filmmaking.’ We made a time to meet so I could show them some cameras.
This was the start of our friendship. I started filming them here and there while teaching them and encouraging their film endeavors. About 4 months in, I was able to come into their home. This is when I realized there was a deeper story and continued from there–we shot for almost 5 years.
When I came into these boys’ lives there was nothing that alarmed me about the situation. They seemed stable, well cared for and educated by their parents (especially their mother). If I had come one year earlier things may have been different. Also, at the point I came into the story the boys had started their rebellion against their father and the power in the household had shifted. They did not seem to need or desire for me to intervene.
What I did do was to encourage them to explore their interest in filmmaking, by helping them to get internships and introduce them to people in the film industry.
Susanne [the boys’ mother] feels like a different person to me now. When we first met she was more submissive and reserved. I think her children’s step towards freedom and socialization really helped her stand up for her own rights as well. It’s a process but she is well on the right path to gaining her own independence.
Their dad brought both classic and cult movies to them. They liked the violent, horrific, morally complicated films the best. As they read more about movies they started to request specific films.
It almost felt as if I had discovered a long lost tribe, except it was not from the edges of the world but from the streets of Manhattan.
Page 71
The boys first saw Pulp Fiction on television, and this started their Quentin Tarantino obsession. It opened their eyes to film outside the realms of the standard Hollywood films they were used to watching. Since films were their world, they started to interpret these looks into their wardrobe. Their personal style is directly related to their favorite characters from their favorite movies. A lot of their early costumes were from clothing their dad would find on the street and at Salvation Army, which they would re-work by hand into specific costumes. For example, they’d tape blue Nike swooshes on tennis shoes to look like Marty McFly’s, or cut up a woman’s rain coat and sew it into the shape
of Mad Max’s leather biker vest.” Source: Magnolia Pictures. “The Wolf Pack: Final Film Notes.” 2014, pp. 3, 9-11.
In this excerpt from an interview with Crystal Moselle, director of The Wolfpack, we appreciate the incredible variety of experiences that people have in coming to terms with the world around them. Moselle describes the strangeness of the six teenage brothers who grew up in isolation from all social contact except that with their immediate family. As we will see throughout this chapter, children are typically exposed to a gradually widening circle of social contacts. As their social horizons widen, they learn more and more about how to behave in their society and how to engage with different kinds of people. The Angulo brothers, in contrast, were never exposed to this widening circle, so everything they learned about the world outside their own family came from movies and TV.
Hollywood movies became the brothers’ window to the world. They acted out scenes and painstakingly transcribed, word for word on an old typewriter, movies such as Reservoir Dogs and The Dark Knight. After years of isolation, the boys, acting with a desire for independence typical of the teenage years, finally ventured out, directly disobeying their father’s commands. In the last five years, they have met extended family members they had never before seen and traveled abroad. With each of these experiences, they compared their experiences to scenes from motion pictures they had watched in their isolated apartment (Whipp 2016).
Sociologists, in general, are interested in the patterns of behavior and attitudes that emerge throughout the life course, from infancy to old age. These patterns are part of the lifelong process of socialization, in which people learn the attitudes, values, and behaviors appropriate for members of a
particular culture. Socialization occurs through human interactions that begin in infancy and continue through retirement. We learn a great deal from those people most important in our lives—immediate family members, best friends, and teachers. But we also learn from people we see on the street, on television, on the Internet, and in films and magazines. From a microsociological perspective, socialization helps us to discover how to behave “properly” and what to expect from others if we follow (or challenge) society’s norms and values. From a macrosociological perspective, socialization provides for the transmission of a culture from one generation to the next, to ensure the long-term continuity of a society.
Socialization also shapes our self-images. For example, in the United States, a person who is viewed as “too heavy” or “too short” does not conform to the ideal cultural standard of physical attractiveness. This kind of unfavorable evaluation can significantly influence the person’s self-esteem. In this sense, socialization experiences can help to shape our personalities. In everyday speech, the term personality is used to refer to a person’s typical patterns of attitudes, needs, characteristics, and behavior.
How much of a person’s personality is shaped by culture, as opposed to inborn traits? In what ways does socialization continue into adulthood? Who are the most powerful agents of socialization? In this chapter we will examine the role of socialization in human development. We will begin by analyzing the interaction of heredity with environmental factors. Then we will explore how people develop perceptions, feelings, and beliefs about themselves. We will pay particular attention to important agents of socialization, including the family, schools, peers, the media and technology, the workplace, and religion. As we will see, socialization is a process that spans the entire life course. In the Social Policy section that closes the chapter, we will focus on the socialization experience of group child care for young children.
The Role of Socialization What makes us who we are? Is it the genes we are born with, or the environment in which we grow up? Researchers have traditionally clashed over the relative importance of biological inheritance and environmental factors in human development—a conflict called the nature versus nurture (or heredity versus environment) debate. Today, most social scientists have moved beyond this debate, acknowledging instead the interaction of these
variables in shaping human development. However, we can better appreciate how heredity and environmental factors interact and influence the socialization process if we first examine situations in which one factor operates almost entirely without the other (Homans 1979).
Social Environment: The Impact of Isolation Some viewers may have found the story of the Angulo brothers difficult to believe, but social scientists have encountered similar cases. The two cases that follow describe the documented effects of extreme social isolation and neglect.
Extreme Isolation: Isabelle The dramatic story of a child called Isabelle was all too real. For the first six years of her life, Isabelle lived in almost total seclusion in a darkened room. She had little contact with other people, with the exception of her mother, who could neither speak nor hear. Isabelle’s mother’s parents had been so deeply ashamed of Isabelle’s illegitimate birth that they kept her hidden away from the world. Ohio authorities finally discovered the child in 1938, when Isabelle’s mother escaped from her parents’ home, taking her daughter with her.
When she was discovered at age six, Isabelle could not speak; she could merely make various croaking sounds. Her only communications with her mother were simple gestures. Isabelle had been largely deprived of the typical interactions and socialization experiences of childhood. Since she had seen few people, she showed a strong fear of strangers and reacted almost like a wild animal when confronted with an unfamiliar person. As she became accustomed to seeing certain individuals, her reaction changed to one of extreme apathy. At first, observers believed that Isabelle was deaf, but she soon began to react to nearby sounds. On tests of maturity, she scored at the level of an infant rather than a six-year-old.
Specialists developed a systematic training program to help Isabelle adapt to human relationships and socialization. After a few days of training, she made her first attempt to verbalize. Although she started slowly, Isabelle quickly passed through six years of development. In a little over two months she was speaking in complete sentences. Nine months later she could identify both words and sentences. Before Isabelle reached age 9, she was ready to
Page 72
attend school with other children. By age 14 she was in sixth grade, doing well in school, and emotionally well adjusted.
Yet without an opportunity to experience socialization in her first six years, Isabelle had been hardly human in the social sense when she was first discovered. Her inability to communicate at the time of her discovery— despite her physical and cognitive potential to learn—and her remarkable progress over the next few years underscore the impact of socialization on human development (K. Davis 1947:435–437).
The scientists involved with Isabelle’s case concluded that all children need socialization in the form of love, care, and affection. Absent that kind of attention, humans cannot learn to speak and interact with others as expected. This need for positive social interaction does not end with childhood; it continues throughout the life span.
Unfortunately, other children who have been locked away or severely neglected have not fared so well as Isabelle. In many instances, the consequences of their social isolation have proved much more damaging.
Extreme Neglect: Romanian Orphans Isabelle’s experience is important to researchers because there are only a few cases of children who were reared in total isolation. However, there are many cases of children raised in extremely neglectful social circumstances. In the 1990s, public attention focused on infants and young children who grew up in orphanages in the formerly communist countries of eastern Europe. In Romanian orphanages, babies once lay in their cribs for 18 to 20 hours a day, curled against their feeding bottles, receiving little care from adults. This minimal attention continued for the first five years of their lives. Many of them grew up fearful of human contact, and prone to unpredictable antisocial behavior. As recently as 2004, some 32,000 Romanian children were institutionalized in this manner.
This situation came to light as families in North America and Europe began to adopt thousands of the orphans. For about 20 percent of those adopted, adjustment problems were so dramatic that the adopting families suffered guilty fears of being ill-fit parents. Many of them have asked for assistance in dealing with the children. Slowly, efforts are being made to introduce the deprived youngsters to feelings of attachment and socialization that they have
never experienced before (Groza et al. 1999; S. Craig Smith 2006). In 2001, Romania bowed to pressure and placed a moratorium on
international adoptions. The state took steps to reunite orphans with their birth families, place them with adoptive families in Romania, or settle them in small group homes. With supervision from attentive caregivers and specialists, the once-abandoned children have made remarkable progress. UNICEF is now using the program as a model for other nations that are dealing with such children. Worldwide, an estimated 2 million children are living in institutional care (Aslanian 2006; Bahrampour 2014; The Economist 2013a; Ironside 2011; UNICEF 2009).
©Thomas Coex/AFP/Getty Images In Romania, special programs emphasizing social interaction have helped orphans to overcome years of social isolation.
As with Isabelle, the Romanian orphans underscored the significance of the social environment in a child’s development. Increasingly, researchers are emphasizing the importance of the earliest socialization experiences for all children, including those who grow up in more normal environments. We know now that it is not enough to care for an infant’s physical needs; parents must also concern themselves with their children’s social development. If, for example, children are discouraged from having friends even as toddlers, they will miss out on experiences with peers that are critical to their socialization and emotional growth.
Primate Studies Studies of animals raised in isolation also support the importance of socialization in development. Harry Harlow (1971), a researcher at the primate laboratory of the University of Wisconsin, conducted tests with rhesus monkeys that had been raised away from their mothers and away from contact with other monkeys. As was the case with Isabelle, the rhesus monkeys raised in isolation were fearful and easily frightened. They did not mate, and the females who were artificially inseminated became abusive mothers. Apparently, isolation had had a damaging effect on the monkeys.
A creative aspect of Harlow’s experimentation was his use of “artificial mothers.” In one such experiment, Harlow presented monkeys raised in isolation with two substitute mothers—one cloth-covered replica and one covered with wire that had the ability to offer milk. Monkey after monkey went to the wire mother for the life-giving milk, yet spent much more time clinging to the more motherlike cloth model. It appears that the infant monkeys developed greater social attachments from their need for warmth, comfort, and intimacy than from their need for milk.
While these studies may seem to suggest that heredity can be dismissed as a factor in the social development of humans and animals, studies of twins reveal a fascinating interplay between heredity and environment.
Use Your Sociological Imagination What events in your life have had a strong influence on who you are?
The Influence of Heredity Identical twins Oskar Stohr and Jack Yufe were separated soon after their birth and raised on different continents, in very different cultural settings. Oskar was reared as a strict Catholic by his maternal grandmother in the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia. As a member of the Hitler Youth movement in Nazi Germany, he learned to hate Jews. In contrast, his brother Jack was reared in Trinidad by the twins’ Jewish father. Jack joined an Israeli kibbutz (a collective settlement) at age 17 and later served in the Israeli army. When the twins were reunited in middle age, however, some startling similarities emerged: They both wore wire-rimmed glasses and mustaches. They both liked spicy foods and sweet liqueurs, were absentminded, flushed the toilet
Page 73
before using it, stored rubber bands on their wrists, and dipped buttered toast in their coffee (Holden 1980).
The twins also differed in many important respects: Jack was a workaholic; Oskar enjoyed leisure-time activities. Oskar was a traditionalist who was domineering toward women; Jack was a political liberal who was much more accepting of feminism. Finally, Jack was extremely proud of being Jewish, whereas Oskar never mentioned his Jewish heritage (Holden 1987).
©encrier/iStock/Getty Images Plus/Getty Images Despite the striking physical resemblance between these identical twins relaxing in Paris, there are undoubtedly many differences between them. Research points to some behavioral similarities between twins, but little beyond the likenesses found among nontwin siblings.
Oskar and Jack are prime examples of the interplay of heredity and environment. For a number of years, the Minnesota Twin Family Study has been following 137 sets of identical twins reared apart to determine what similarities, if any, they show in personality traits, behavior, and intelligence. Preliminary results from the available twin studies indicate that both genetic factors and socialization experiences are influential in human development.
Certain characteristics, such as temperaments, voice patterns, and nervous habits, appear to be strikingly similar even in twins reared apart, suggesting that these qualities may be linked to hereditary causes. However, identical twins reared apart differ far more in their attitudes, values, chosen mates, and even drinking habits; these qualities, it would seem, are influenced by environmental factors. In examining clusters of personality traits among such twins, researchers have found marked similarities in their tendency toward leadership or dominance, but significant differences in their need for intimacy, comfort, and assistance.
Researchers have also been impressed with the similar scores on intelligence tests of twins reared apart in roughly similar social settings. Most of the identical twins register scores even closer than those that would be expected if the same person took a test twice. At the same time, however, identical twins brought up in dramatically different social environments score quite differently on intelligence tests—a finding that supports the impact of socialization on human development (Segal 2012).
We need to be cautious in reviewing studies of twin pairs and other relevant research. Widely broadcast findings have often been based on preliminary analysis of extremely small samples. For example, one study (not involving twin pairs) was frequently cited as confirming genetic links with behavior. Yet the researchers had to retract their conclusions after they increased the sample and reclassified two of the original cases. After those changes, the initial findings were no longer valid.
Critics add that studies of twin pairs have not provided satisfactory information concerning the extent to which separated identical twins may have had contact with each other, even though they were raised apart. Such interactions—especially if they were extensive—could call into question the validity of the twin studies. As this debate continues, we can certainly anticipate numerous efforts to replicate the research and clarify the interplay between heredity and environmental factors in human development (Horgan 1993; Plomin 1989).
Page 74
©Saleh Al-Obeidi/AFP/Getty Images Socialization can be negative as well as positive. When the very young come to view harmful behaviors like smoking or illegal drug use as “normal,” socialization is negative. In Yemen, these child soldiers have learned to use an automatic weapon.
thinking CRITICALLY What are some social policy implications of research on the effects of early socialization experiences?
The Self and Socialization We all have various perceptions, feelings, and beliefs about who we are and what we are like. How do we come to develop them? Do they change as we age?
We were not born with these understandings. Building on the work of George Herbert Mead (1964b), sociologists recognize that our concept of who we are, the self, emerges as we interact with others. The self is a distinct
identity that sets us apart from others. It is not a static phenomenon, but continues to develop and change throughout our lives.
Sociologists and psychologists alike have expressed interest in how the individual develops and modifies the sense of self as a result of social interaction. The work of sociologists Charles Horton Cooley and George Herbert Mead, pioneers of the interactionist approach, has been especially useful in furthering our understanding of these important issues.
Sociological Approaches to the Self
Cooley: Looking-Glass Self In the early 1900s, Charles Horton Cooley advanced the belief that we learn who we are by interacting with others. Our view of ourselves, then, comes not only from direct contemplation of our personal qualities but also from our impressions of how others perceive us. Cooley used the phrase looking-glass self to emphasize that the self is the product of our social interactions.
The process of developing a self-identity or self-concept has three phases. First, we imagine how we present ourselves to others—to relatives, friends, even strangers on the street. Then we imagine how others evaluate us (attractive, intelligent, shy, or strange). Finally, we develop some sort of feeling about ourselves, such as respect or shame, as a result of these impressions (Cooley 1902; Michael C. Howard 1989).
A subtle but critical aspect of Cooley’s looking-glass self is that the self results from an individual’s “imagination” of how others view him or her. As a result, we can develop self-identities based on incorrect perceptions of how others see us. A student may react strongly to a teacher’s criticism and decide (wrongly) that the instructor views the student as stupid. This misperception may be converted into a negative self-identity through the following process: (1) the teacher criticized me, (2) the teacher must think that I’m stupid, (3) I am stupid. Yet self-identities are also subject to change. If the student receives an A at the end of the course, he or she will probably no longer feel stupid.
Mead: Stages of the Self George Herbert Mead continued Cooley’s exploration of interactionist
theory. Mead (1934, 1964a) developed a useful model of the process by which the self emerges, defined by three distinct stages: the preparatory stage, the play stage, and the game stage (Table 4-1).
The Preparatory Stage During the preparatory stage, children merely imitate the people around them, especially family members with whom they continually interact. Thus, a small child will bang on a piece of wood while a parent is engaged in carpentry work, or will try to throw a ball if an older sibling is doing so nearby.
As they grow older, children become more adept at using symbols, including the gestures and words that form the basis of human communication. By interacting with relatives and friends, as well as by watching cartoons on television and looking at picture books, children in the preparatory stage begin to understand symbols. They will continue to use this form of communication throughout their lives.
The Play Stage Mead was among the first to analyze the relationship of symbols to socialization. As children develop skill in communicating through symbols, they gradually become more aware of social relationships. As a result, during the play stage, they begin to pretend to be other people. Just as an actor “becomes” a character, a child becomes a doctor, parent, superhero, or ship captain.
Mead, in fact, noted that an important aspect of the play stage is role- playing. Role taking is the process of mentally assuming the perspective of another and responding from that imagined viewpoint. For example, through this process a young child will gradually learn when it is best to ask a parent for favors. If the parent usually comes home from work in a bad mood, the child will wait until after dinner, when the parent is more relaxed and approachable.
The Game Stage In Mead’s third stage, the game stage, the child of about age eight or nine no
Page 75
longer just plays roles but begins to consider several tasks and relationships simultaneously. At this point in development, children grasp not only their own social positions but also those of others around them—just as in a football game the players must understand their own and everyone else’s positions. Consider a girl or boy who is part of a Scout troop out on a weekend hike in the mountains. The child must understand what he or she is expected to do but must also recognize the responsibilities of other Scouts as well as the leaders. This is the final stage of development under Mead’s model: the child can now respond to numerous members of the social environment.
Mead uses the term generalized other to refer to the attitudes, viewpoints, and expectations of society as a whole that a child takes into account in his or her behavior. Simply put, this concept suggests that when an individual acts, he or she takes into account an entire group of people. For example, a child will not act courteously merely to please a particular parent. Rather, the child comes to understand that courtesy is a widespread social value endorsed by parents, teachers, and religious leaders.
Table 4-1 summarizes the three stages of the self outlined by George Herbert Mead.
Mead: Theory of the Self Mead is best known for his theory of the self. According to Mead (1964b), the self begins at a privileged, central position in a person’s world. Young children picture themselves as the focus of everything around them and find it difficult to consider the perspectives of others. For example, when shown a mountain scene and asked to describe what an observer on the opposite side of the mountain might see (such as a lake or hikers), young children describe only objects visible from their vantage point. This childhood tendency to place ourselves at the center of events never entirely
Page 76
disappears. Many people with a fear of flying automatically assume that if any plane goes down, it will be the one they are on. And who reads the horoscope section in the paper without looking at their own horoscope first? Why else do we buy lottery tickets, if we do not imagine ourselves winning?
Nonetheless, as people mature, the self changes and begins to reflect greater concern about the reactions of others. Parents, friends, co-workers, coaches, and teachers are often among those who play a major role in shaping a person’s self. The term significant others is used to refer to those individuals who are most important in the development of the self. Many young people, for example, find themselves drawn to the same kind of work their parents engage in (H. Sullivan [1953] 1968).
Use Your Sociological Imagination How do you view yourself as you interact with others around you? How do you think you formed this view of yourself?
Goffman: Presentation of the Self How do we manage our “self”? How do we display to others who we are? Erving Goffman, a sociologist associated with the interactionist perspective, suggested that many of our daily activities involve attempts to convey impressions of who we are. His observations help us to understand the sometimes subtle yet critical ways in which we learn to present ourselves socially. They also offer concrete examples of this aspect of socialization.
Early in life, the individual learns to slant his or her presentation of the self in order to create distinctive appearances and satisfy particular audiences. Goffman (1959) referred to this altering of the presentation of the self as impression management. Box 4-1 describes an everyday example of this concept—the way students behave after receiving their exam grades.
SOCIOLOGY ON CAMPUS
4-1 Impression Management by Students When you and fellow classmates get an exam back, you probably react differently depending on the grades each of you earned. This distinction is part of impression management. Researchers have found that students’ reactions differ depending on the grades that others received, compared to their own. These encounters can be divided into three categories: those in which all students earned high grades (Ace–Ace encounters); those between Aces and students who received low or failing grades (Ace– Bomber encounters); and those between students who all got low grades (Bomber–Bomber encounters).
Ace–Ace encounters occur in a rather open atmosphere, because there is comfort in sharing a high mark with another high achiever. It is even acceptable to violate the norm of modesty and brag when among other Aces, since as one student admitted, “It’s much easier to admit a high mark to someone who has done better than you, or at least as well.”
Ace–Bomber encounters are often sensitive. Bombers generally attempt to avoid such exchanges, because “you . . . emerge looking like the dumb one” or “feel like you are lazy or unreliable.” When forced into interactions with Aces, Bombers work to appear gracious and congratulatory. For their part, Aces offer sympathy and support to the dissatisfied Bombers and even rationalize their own “lucky” high scores. To help Bombers save face, Aces may emphasize the difficulty and unfairness of the examination.
Bomber–Bomber encounters tend to be closed, reflecting the group effort to wall off the feared disdain of others. Yet within the safety of these encounters, Bombers openly share their disappointment and engage in expressions of mutual self-pity that they themselves call “pity parties.” They devise face-saving excuses for their poor performance, such as “I wasn’t feeling well all week” or “I had four exams and two papers due that week.”
When forced into interactions with Aces, Bombers work to appear gracious and congratulatory.
Of course, grade comparisons are not the only occasion when students engage in impression management. Another study has shown that students’ perceptions of how often fellow students work out can also influence their social encounters. In athletic terms, a bomber would be someone who doesn’t work out; an ace would be someone who works hard at physical fitness.
LET’S DISCUSS
1. How do you react to those who have received higher or lower grades than you? Do you engage in impression management? How would you like others to react to your grade?
2. What social norms govern students’ impression management strategies?
Sources: Albas and Albas 1988, 1996; Austin 2009; M. Mack 2003; Scott 2016.
In analyzing such everyday social interactions, Goffman makes so many explicit parallels to the theater that his view has been termed the dramaturgical approach. According to this perspective, people resemble performers in action. For example, a clerk may try to appear busier than he or she actually is if a supervisor happens to be watching. A customer in a singles’ bar may try to look as if he or she is waiting for a particular person to arrive.
Goffman (1959) also drew attention to another aspect of the self, face- work. How often do you initiate some kind of face-saving behavior when you feel embarrassed or rejected? In response to a rejection at the singles’ bar, a person may engage in face-work by saying, “There really isn’t an interesting person in this entire crowd.” We feel the need to maintain a proper image of the self if we are to continue social interaction.
Face-work is a necessity for those who are unemployed. In an economic downturn like the recent recession, unemployment affects people of all social classes, many of whom are unaccustomed to being jobless. A recent ethnographic study found the newly unemployed redefining what it means to be out of work. They were focusing more than in the past on what they were accomplishing, and had begun to value volunteer work more since they had become volunteers themselves. Participants in this study engaged in both impression management and face-work (Garrett-Peters 2009).
Goffman’s work on the self represents a logical progression of sociological studies begun by Cooley and Mead on how personality is acquired through socialization and how we manage the presentation of the self to others. Cooley stressed the process by which we create a self; Mead focused on how the self develops as we learn to interact with others; Goffman emphasized the ways in which we consciously create images of ourselves for others.
©Scott Arthur Masear. Reprinted by permission of www.CartoonStock.com. People judge us by our appearance, attire, body language, demeanor, and mannerisms. Knowing that they do, most of us alter the way we present ourselves to others, a strategy that Goffman called impression management.
Psychological Approaches to the Self Psychologists have shared the interest of Cooley, Mead, and other sociologists in the development of the self. Early work in psychology, such as that of Sigmund Freud (1856–1939), stressed the role of inborn drives— among them the drive for sexual gratification—in channeling human behavior. More recently, psychologists such as Jean Piaget have emphasized the stages through which human development progresses.
Like Charles Horton Cooley and George Herbert Mead, Freud believed that the self is a social product, and that aspects of one’s personality are influenced by other people (especially one’s parents). However, unlike Cooley and Mead, he suggested that the self has components that work in opposition to each other. According to Freud, our natural impulsive instincts are in constant conflict with societal constraints. Part of us seeks limitless pleasure, while another part favors rational behavior. By interacting with others, we learn the expectations of society and then select behavior most appropriate to our culture. (Of course, as Freud was well aware, we sometimes distort reality and behave irrationally.)
Research on newborn babies by the Swiss child psychologist Jean Piaget (1896–1980) has underscored the importance of social interactions in
Page 77
developing a sense of self. Piaget found that newborns have no self in the sense of a looking-glass image. Ironically, though, they are quite self- centered; they demand that all attention be directed toward them. Newborns have not yet separated themselves from the universe of which they are a part. For these babies, the phrase “you and me” has no meaning; they understand only “me.” However, as they mature, children are gradually socialized into social relationships, even within their rather self-centered world.
In his well-known cognitive theory of development, Piaget (1954) identified four stages in the development of children’s thought processes. In the first, or sensorimotor, stage, young children use their senses to make discoveries. For example, through touching they discover that their hands are actually a part of themselves. During the second, or preoperational, stage, children begin to use words and symbols to distinguish objects and ideas. The milestone in the third, or concrete operational, stage is that children engage in more logical thinking. They learn that even when a formless lump of clay is shaped into a snake, it is still the same clay. In the fourth, or formal operational, stage, adolescents become capable of sophisticated abstract thought and can deal logically with ideas and values.
According to Piaget, social interaction is the key to development. As children grow older, they pay increasing attention to how other people think and why they act in particular ways. In order to develop a distinct personality, each of us needs opportunities to interact with others. As we saw earlier, Isabelle was deprived of the chance for normal social interactions, and the consequences were severe (Kitchener 1991).
We have seen that a number of thinkers considered social interaction the key to the development of an individual’s sense of self. As is generally true, we can best understand this topic by drawing on a variety of theory and research. Table 4-2 summarizes the rich literature, both sociological and psychological, on the development of the self.
thinking CRITICALLY What are some similarities between Mead’s stages of the self and Piaget’s cognitive development stages? What are some differences?
Agents of Socialization As we have seen, the culture of the United States is defined by rather gradual movements from one stage of socialization to the next. The continuing and lifelong socialization process involves many different social forces that influence our lives and alter our self-images.
The family is the most important agent of socialization in the United States, especially for children. In this chapter, we’ll also discuss six other agents of socialization: the school, the peer group, the mass media and technology, the workplace, religion, and the state.
Family The lifelong process of learning begins shortly after birth. Since newborns can hear, see, smell, taste, and feel heat, cold, and pain, they are constantly orienting themselves to the surrounding world. Human beings, especially family members, constitute an important part of their social environment. People minister to the baby’s needs by feeding, cleaning, carrying, and comforting the baby.
All families engage in socialization, but the way that Amish families
Page 78
encourage their children to accept their community’s subculture is particularly striking. Box 4-2 describes their tolerance for the period of rebellion known as rum springa, during which Amish children flirt with the adolescent subculture of mainstream American society.
RESEARCH TODAY
4-2 Rum Springa: Raising Children Amish Style All families face challenges raising their children, but what if your parents expected you not to dance, listen to music, watch television, or access the Internet? This is the challenge faced by Amish teens and their parents, who embrace a lifestyle of the mid-1800s. Amish youths—boys in particular— often rebel against their parents’ strict morals by getting drunk, behaving disrespectfully, and indulging in “worldly” activities, such as buying a car. At times even the girls may become involved, to their families’ dismay. As one scholar puts it, “The rowdiness of Amish youth is an embarrassment to church leaders and a stigma in the larger community” (Kraybill 2001:138).
Yet the strong pull of mainstream American culture has led Amish parents to routinize, almost to accept, some of their children’s worldly activities. They expect adolescents to test their subculture’s boundaries during a period of discovery called rum springa, a German term meaning “running around.” A common occurrence during which young people attend barn dances and break social norms that forbid drinking, smoking, and driving cars, rum springa is definitely not supported by the Amish religion.
©Lee Snider Photo Images/Shutterstock
Parents often react to these escapades by looking the other way, sometimes literally. If they hear radio music coming from the barn, or a motorcycle driving onto their property in the middle of the night, they don’t
retaliate by punishing their offspring. Instead, they pretend not to notice, secure in the knowledge that Amish children almost always return to the community’s traditional values. Indeed, despite the flirtation with popular culture and modern technology that is common during the rum springa, the vast majority of Amish youths do return to the Amish community and become baptized. Scholars report that 85 to 90 percent of Amish children accept the faith as young adults.
All families face challenges raising their children, but what if your parents expected you
not to dance, listen to music, watch television, or access the Internet?
To mainstream Americans, this little known and understood subculture became a source of entertainment when in 2004, UPN aired a 10-week reality program called Amish in the City. In the series, five Amish youths allegedly on rum springa moved in with six worldly wise young adults in Los Angeles. On behalf of the Amish community, some critics called the series exploitative, a sign of how vulnerable the Amish are. No similar series would be developed on the rebellion of Muslim or Orthodox Jewish youths, they charged.
LET’S DISCUSS 1. Do you or anyone you know come from a subculture that rejects
mainstream American culture? If so, describe the community’s norms and values. How do they resemble and how do they differ from Amish norms and values?
2. Why do you think so many Amish youths return to their families’ way of life after rebelling against it?
Sources: Kraybill 2001; R. Schaefer and Zellner 2015; Shachtman 2006; Stevick 2007; Weinraub 2004.
In the United States, social development also includes exposure to cultural assumptions regarding gender and race. Black parents, for example, have learned that children as young as age two can absorb negative messages about Blacks in children’s books, toys, and television shows—all of which
are designed primarily for White consumers. At the same time, Black children are exposed more often than others to the inner-city youth gang culture. Because most Blacks, even those who are middle class, live near very poor neighborhoods, their children are susceptible to these influences, despite their parents’ strong family values (Linn and Poussaint 1999; Pattillo-McCoy 1999).
The term gender role refers to expectations regarding the proper behavior, attitudes, and activities of males and females. For example, we traditionally think of “toughness” as masculine—and desirable only in men—while we view “tenderness” as feminine. Other cultures do not necessarily assign these qualities to each gender in the way that our culture does. The existence of gender roles does not imply that inevitably, males and females will assume certain roles, nor does it imply that those roles are quite distinct from one another. Rather, gender roles emphasize the fact that males and females are not genetically predetermined to occupy certain roles.
©Florian Franke/Purestock/SuperStock A college experiment asking students to polish the fingernails of someone of the opposite sex reveals both how we view gender expectations as well as the care that needs to be shown in conducting experiments with human subjects.
Experiments can help illuminate this aspect of social behavior. Sociologist Nelta Edwards at the University of Alaska, Anchorage, would ask her students to polish the fingernails of a friend of the opposite sex with supplies she provided. Men were very reluctant to have their nails polished and
Page 79 typically chose clear or black as the color. When they then went out in public, they encountered taunts and name-calling, even from strangers. The male students reported that they either avoided going out in public, quickly removed the polish, or engaged in some impression management: “I had to do it for my Soc 101 class.”
The women whose nails were polished by men often expressed concern with the sloppiness with which their fingernails were done. When men did the job well, the female students admitted feeling surprised. Such an experiment easily showed how gender roles can be defined. But since experiments with people need to be carried out carefully, Edwards (2010) acknowledges that the experimenter must be mindful that a student could be physically abused or that the experiment might intensify anti-gay feelings.
©Michel Renaudeau/age fotostock A daughter learns how to weave fabric from her mother in Guatemala. The family is the most important agent of socialization.
As the primary agents of childhood socialization, parents play a critical role in guiding children into those gender roles deemed appropriate in a society. Other adults, older siblings, the mass media, and religious and educational institutions also have a noticeable impact on a child’s socialization into feminine and masculine norms. A culture or subculture may require that one
sex or the other take primary responsibility for the socialization of children, economic support of the family, or religious or intellectual leadership. In some societies, girls are socialized mainly by their mothers and boys by their fathers—an arrangement that may prevent girls from learning critical survival skills. In South Asia, fathers teach their sons to swim to prepare them for a life as fishermen; girls typically do not learn to swim. When a deadly tsunami hit the coast of South Asia in 2004, many more men survived than women.
School Like the family, schools have an explicit mandate to socialize people in the United States—especially children—into the norms and values of our culture.
As conflict theorists Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis ([1976] 2011) have observed, schools in this country foster competition through built-in systems of reward and punishment, such as grades and evaluations by teachers. Consequently, a child who is experiencing difficulty trying to learn a new skill can sometimes come to feel stupid and unsuccessful. However, as the self matures, children become capable of increasingly realistic assessments of their intellectual, physical, and social abilities.
Functionalists point out that schools, as agents of socialization, fulfill the function of teaching children the values and customs of the larger society. Conflict theorists agree, but add that schools can reinforce the divisive aspects of society, especially those of social class. For example, higher education in the United States is costly despite the existence of financial aid programs. Students from affluent backgrounds therefore have an advantage in gaining access to universities and professional training. At the same time, less affluent young people may never receive the preparation that would qualify them for the best-paying and most prestigious jobs.
Peer Group As a child grows older, the family becomes somewhat less important in social development. Instead, peer groups increasingly assume the role of Mead’s significant others. Within the peer group, young people associate with others who are approximately their age, and who often enjoy a similar social status (Giordano 2003).
We can see how important peer groups are to young people when their
Page 80
social lives are strained by war or disaster. In Syria, social groupings have been torn apart by civil war, invasion, and bombings. In 2012, Fatmeh described her life as that of a typical teenager whose daily routine was all about school, classes, friends, and homework. Three years later, at age 15, she was living in a makeshift shelter in Lebanon. When she left Syria, she still hoped to continue her studies in Lebanon and become a language teacher, but that is unlikely to happen, because her whole family must do farm work seven days a week to maintain their meager life. Her only connection beyond her immediate family is her cell phone, which allows her to keep up with news about Syria and to hear songs about her homeland. Fatmeh says she still has “very small hope” that someday she will be able to return to school and eventually go to college. “Very small, small hope,” she says (Beaubien and Davis 2015).
TAKING SOCIOLOGY TO WORK
Rakefet Avramovitz, Program Administrator, Child Care Law Center Rakefet Avramovitz has been working at the Child Care Law Center in San Francisco since 2003. The center uses legal tools to foster the development of quality, affordable child care, with the goal of expanding child care options, particularly for low-income families. As a support person for the center’s attorneys, she manages grants, oversees the center’s publications, and sets up conferences and training sessions.
Courtesy of Rakefet Avriamovitz
Avramovitz graduated from Dickinson College in 2000. She first became interested in sociology when she took a social analysis course. Though she
enjoyed her qualitative courses most, she found her quantitative courses fun, “in that we got to do surveys of people on campus. I’ve always enjoyed fieldwork,” she notes. Avramovitz’s most memorable course was one that gave her the opportunity to interact with migrant farmworkers for an entire semester. “I learned ethnography and how to work with people of different cultures. It changed my life,” she says.
Avramovitz finds that the skills she learned in her sociology courses are a great help to her on the job. “Sociology taught me how to work with people . . . and how to think critically. It taught me how to listen and find the stories that people are telling,” she explains. Before joining the Child Care Law Center, Avramovitz worked as a counselor for women who were facing difficult issues. “My background in ethnography helped me to talk to these women and listen effectively,” she notes. “I was able to help many women by understanding and being able to express their needs to the attorneys we worked with.”
Avramovitz is enthusiastic about her work and her ability to make a difference in other people’s lives. Maybe that is why she looks forward to summer at the center, when the staff welcomes several law students as interns. “It is really neat to see people learn and get jazzed about child care issues,” she says.
LET’S DISCUSS 1. What might be some of the broad, long-term effects of the center’s work
to expand child care options? Explain. 2. Besides the law, what other professions might benefit from the skills a
sociology major has to offer?
Courtesy of Rakefet Avramovitz.
Gender differences are noteworthy among adolescents. Boys and girls are socialized by their parents, peers, and the media to identify many of the same paths to popularity, but to different degrees. Table 4-3 compares male and female college students’ reports of how girls and boys they knew became popular in high school. The two groups named many of the same paths to popularity but gave them a different order of importance. While neither men nor women named sexual activity, drug use, or alcohol use as one of the top five paths, college men were much more likely than women to mention those behaviors as a means to becoming popular, for both boys and girls.
Note: Students at the following universities were asked in which ways adolescents in their high schools had gained prestige with their peers: Cornell University, Louisiana State University, Southeastern Louisiana University, State University of New York at Albany, State University of New York at Stony Brook, University of Georgia, and University of New Hampshire. Source: Suitor et al. 2001:445.
Mass Media and Technology In the past century, media innovations—radio, motion pictures, recorded music, television, and the Internet—have become important agents of socialization. The question is no longer whether young people are plugged in, but how they use these resources. Today, 95 percent of those ages 12 to 17 are on the Internet. No surprise there, but 91 percent of them post photos identifying themselves by name. Ninety-two percent use their real names, and 82 percent post their birth dates on social media.
Increasingly, then, socialization occurs online. The age at which young people go online has also been dropping, prompting concern about the potential for media abuse at an earlier and earlier age. Over the last decade, the American Academy of Pediatrics began by publishing concerns about teen use of the Internet. Recently, the organization published guidelines for the 90 percent of infants who use the Internet—via their parents, of course (American Academy of Pediatrics 2011, 2013; Madden et al. 2013). Given the manner in which young people access social media, little wonder that adults are supervising their children’s ventures into online interaction, as we see in Box 4-3.
Page 81
RESEARCH TODAY
4-3 Parental Monitoring of the Digital World News stories about young people who engage in dangerous behavior, from self-mutilation to acts of terrorism or attempts at suicide, often imply that these bad outcomes had been preceded by risky online behaviors. In addition more and more concern has been raised about cyberbullying directed toward young people by their peers. Typically parents and other adult guardians profess little or no knowledge of what their children were doing online, even though recent surveys show about a third of young people spend at least 4 hours a day with onscreen media. In comparison, the majority report spending no time reading on any given day.
So what does social research tell us about how actively parents supervise online activity? In 2014, a national survey of the parents of teens (ages 13 to 17) found that parents undertake a range of activities to monitor their teens’ lives online. As shown in the accompanying figure, parents are more likely to become involved in the digital lives of their younger teens than those that are a bit older.
Parental Monitoring of Teenagers' Online Activity
Source: Anderson, Monica. Parents, Teens, and Digital Monitoring. 2016, pp. 7–8, 16.
[A]bout a third of young people spend at least 4 hours a day with onscreen media. In comparison, the majority report spending no time reading on
any given day.
Overall mothers are more likely to monitor online activity than are fathers. Parents who have lower incomes and less education tend to discuss online activity more than affluent or better-educated parents. Hispanic and Black parents report getting more involved with their children’s digital communication than do White parents.
Despite this reported close involvement, only about half of all parents report knowing their children’s password for e-mail and cellphone use, and only one-third say they know the password to their children’s social media accounts. This raises reasonable questions about how closely parents are truly monitoring their children’s activities.
LET’S DISCUSS 1. How important is it for parents to monitor their children's online activity?
At what age should monitoring end? 2. Why do you think the degree of parental monitoring varies by race,
income, and education level?
Sources: Anderson 2016; Common Sense Media 2015; Mesch 2009.
Not just in industrial nations, but in Africa and other developing areas, people have been socialized into relying on new communications technologies. Not long ago, if Zadhe Iyombe wanted to talk to his mother, he had to make an eight-day trip from the capital city of Kinshasa up the Congo River by boat to the rural town where he was born. Now both he and his mother have access to a cell phone, and they send text messages to each other daily. Iyombe and his mother are not atypical. Although cell phones aren’t cheap, 51 percent of people in low-income nations have them, compared to 4
Page 82
percent who have a computer at home (World Bank 2015a:Tables 5.11, 5.12). That said, not all new communications technologies are widely available in
developing nations. For example, many people in these countries cannot afford broadband Internet service. In terms of their relative income, broadband service is 40 times more expensive to people in developing countries than it is to the typical person in an industrialized nation (International Telecommunication Union 2012).
Workplace Learning to behave appropriately in an occupation is a fundamental aspect of human socialization. It used to be that going to work began with the end of our formal schooling, but that is no longer the case, at least not in the United States. More and more young people work today, and not just for a parent or relative. Adolescents generally seek jobs in order to make spending money; 80 percent of high school seniors say that little or none of what they earn goes to family expenses. These teens rarely look on their employment as a means of exploring vocational interests or getting on-the-job training.
Some observers feel that the increasing number of teenagers who are working earlier in life and for longer hours are finding the workplace almost as important an agent of socialization as school. In fact, a number of educators complain that student time at work is adversely affecting schoolwork. The level of teenage employment in the United States is the highest among industrial countries, which may provide one explanation for why U.S. high school students lag behind those in other countries on international achievement tests.
Socialization in the workplace changes when it involves a more permanent shift from an after-school job to full-time employment. Occupational socialization can be most intense during the transition from school to job, but it continues throughout one’s work history. Technological advances may alter the requirements of the position and necessitate some degree of resocialization. Today, men and women change occupations, employers, or places of work many times during their adult years. For example, the typical worker spends about four years with an employer. Occupational socialization continues, then, throughout a person’s years in the labor market (Bialik 2010).
©Jake Lyell/Alamy Stock Photo In Soroti, Uganda, a woman makes a quick telephone call. Cell phones play a critical role in communications and commerce in developing countries, where other ways of connecting are less available or more expensive.
College students today recognize that occupational socialization is not socialization into one lifetime occupation. They anticipate going through a number of jobs. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (2015a) has found that from ages 18 to 48, the typical person has held 12 jobs, but nearly half of these jobs are held between ages 18 and 24. This high rate of turnover in employment applies to both men and women, and to those with a college degree as well as those with a high school diploma.
Religion and the State Increasingly, social scientists are recognizing the importance of both religion and government (“the state”) as agents of socialization, because of their impact on the life course. Traditionally, family members have served as the primary caregivers in our culture, but in the 20th century, the family’s protective function was steadily transferred to outside agencies such as hospitals, mental health clinics, and child care centers. Many of these agencies are run by groups affiliated with certain religions or by the state.
Both organized religion and government have impacted the life course by reinstituting some of the rites of passage once observed in agricultural communities and early industrial societies. For example, religious organizations stipulate certain traditional rites that may bring together all the
members of an extended family, even if they never meet for any other reason. And government regulations stipulate the ages at which a person may drive a car, drink alcohol, vote in elections, marry without parental permission, work overtime, and retire. These regulations do not constitute strict rites of passage: most 18-year-olds choose not to vote, and most people choose their age of retirement without reference to government dictates.
In the Social Policy section at the end of this chapter, we will see that government is under pressure to become a provider of child care, which would give it a new and direct role in the socialization of infants and young children.
thinking CRITICALLY How would functionalist and conflict theorists differ in their analysis of socialization by the mass media?
Socialization throughout the Life Course The Life Course Among the Kota people of the Congo in Africa, adolescents paint themselves blue. Mexican American girls go on a daylong religious retreat before dancing the night away. Egyptian mothers step over their newborn infants seven times, and graduating students at the Naval Academy throw their hats in the air. These are all ways of celebrating rites of passage, or rituals that mark a symbolic transition from one social position to another. Rites of passage are ways of validating and or dramatizing changes in a person’s status. They may mark a separation, as in a graduation ceremony, or an incorporation, as in an initiation into an organization (Van Gennep [1909] 1960).
Rites of passage are a worldwide social phenomenon. The Kota rite marks the passage to adulthood. The color blue, viewed as the color of death, symbolizes the death of childhood. Hispanic girls celebrate reaching womanhood with a quinceañera ceremony at age 15. In the Cuban American
community of Miami, the popularity of the quinceañera supports a network of party planners, caterers, dress designers, and the Miss Quinceañera Latina pageant. For thousands of years, Egyptian mothers have welcomed their newborns to the world in the Soboa ceremony by stepping over the seven- day-old infant seven times.
©Paul Chesley/Getty Images A young Apache woman undergoes a mudding ceremony traditionally used in rites of passage, such as puberty and in some cases weddings.
These specific ceremonies mark stages of development in the life course. They indicate that the process of socialization continues through all stages of the life cycle. In fact, some researchers have chosen to concentrate on socialization as a lifelong process. Sociologists and other social scientists who take such a life course approach look closely at the social factors that influence people throughout their lives, from birth to death, including gender and income. They recognize that biological changes mold but do not dictate human behavior.
Several life events mark the passage to adulthood, including marriage and the birth of a first child. Of course, these turning points vary from one society or even one generation to the next. In the United States, the key event seems to be the completion of formal schooling. However, educational completion
Page 83
is not as clearly defined today as it was a generation or two ago. More and more people are taking full-time jobs while finishing
their schooling, or returning to school to obtain a professional certificate or advanced degree. Similarly, the milestones associated with leaving home, finding a stable job, and establishing a long-term personal relationship do not now occur at specific ages (Silva 2012; T. Smith 2003).
One result of these overlapping steps to independence is that in the United States, unlike some other societies, there is no clear dividing line between adolescence and adulthood. Nowadays, few young people finish school, get married, and leave home at about the same age, clearly establishing their transition to adulthood. The terms youthhood, emerging adulthood, and not quite adult have been coined to describe the prolonged ambiguous status that young people in their 20s experience (Côté 2000; Settersten and Ray 2011; Christian Smith 2007).
Use Your Sociological Imagination Why do you think the end of formal schooling is the most important milestone of adulthood today? What about marriage, full-time employment, or financial independence from parents or guardians? Which milestone do you think is the most important?
Anticipatory Socialization and Resocialization The development of a social self is literally a lifelong transformation that begins in the crib and continues as one prepares for death. Two types of socialization occur at many points throughout the life course: anticipatory socialization and resocialization.
Anticipatory socialization refers to processes of socialization in which a person rehearses for future positions, occupations, and social relationships. A culture can function more efficiently and smoothly if members become acquainted with the norms, values, and behavior associated with a social position before actually assuming that status. Preparation for many aspects of adult life begins with anticipatory socialization during childhood and adolescence, and continues throughout our lives as we prepare for new responsibilities.
You can see the process of anticipatory socialization take place when high
school students start to consider what colleges they may attend. Traditionally, this task meant looking at publications received in the mail or making campus visits. However, with new technology, more and more students are using the web to begin their college experience. Colleges are investing more time and money in developing attractive websites through which students can take virtual campus tours and hear audio clips of everything from the college anthem to a sample zoology lecture.
Occasionally, assuming a new social or occupational position requires us to unlearn an established orientation. Resocialization refers to the process of discarding former behavior patterns and accepting new ones as part of a transition in one’s life. Often resocialization occurs during an explicit effort to transform an individual, as happens in reform schools, therapy groups, prisons, religious conversion settings, and political indoctrination camps. The process of resocialization typically involves considerable stress for the individual—much more so than socialization in general, or even anticipatory socialization (Gecas 2004).
Resocialization is particularly effective when it occurs within a total institution. Erving Goffman (1961) coined the term total institution to refer to an institution that regulates all aspects of a person’s life under a single authority, such as a prison, the military, a mental hospital, or a convent. Because the total institution is generally cut off from the rest of society, it provides for all the needs of its members. Quite literally, the crew of a merchant vessel at sea becomes part of a total institution. So elaborate are its requirements, so all-encompassing its activities, a total institution often represents a miniature society.
Goffman (1961) identified four common traits of total institutions:
All aspects of life are conducted in the same place under the control of a single authority. Any activities within the institution are conducted in the company of others in the same circumstances—for example, army recruits or novices in a convent. The authorities devise rules and schedule activities without consulting the participants. All aspects of life within a total institution are designed to fulfill the purpose of the organization. Thus, all activities in a monastery might be
Page 84
centered on prayer and communion with God (Davies 1989; P. Rose et al. 1979).
People often lose their individuality within total institutions. For example, a person entering prison may experience the humiliation of a degradation ceremony as he or she is stripped of clothing, jewelry, and other personal possessions. From this point on, scheduled daily routines allow for little or no personal initiative. The individual becomes secondary and rather invisible in the overbearing social environment (Garfinkel 1956).
Source: Cpl. Benjamin E. Woodle, United States Marine Corp Marine recruits undergoing grueling basic training at Parris Island, South Carolina. The military is an example of what sociologists call a total institution.
thinking CRITICALLY What examples of anticipatory socialization did you experience as a child or as a teenager? What examples are you currently experiencing?
Role Transitions throughout the Life Course We have seen that socialization is a lifelong process. We simply do not experience things the same way at different points in the life
course. For example, one study found that even falling in love differs according to where we are in the life course. Young unmarried adults tend to treat love as a noncommittal game or an obsession characterized by possessiveness and dependency. People over age 50 are much more likely to see love as involving commitment, and they tend to take a practical approach to finding a partner who meets a set of rational criteria. That does not mean that romance is dead among the older generation, however. Among those age 65 and over, 39 percent are “head over heels in love,” compared to only 25 percent of those ages 18 to 34. The life course, then, affects the manner in which we relate to one another (G. Anderson 2009;Montgomery and Sorell 1997).
How we move through the life course varies dramatically, depending on our personal preferences and circumstances. Some of us marry early, others late; some have children and some don’t. These individual patterns are influenced by social factors such as class, race, and gender. Only in the most general terms, then, can we speak of stages or periods in the life course.
One transitional stage, identified by psychologist Daniel Levinson, begins at the time at which an individual gradually enters the adult world, perhaps by moving out of the parental home, beginning a career, or entering a marriage. The next transitional period, the midlife transition, typically begins at about age 40. Men and women often experience a stressful period of self- evaluation, commonly known as the midlife crisis, in which they realize that they have not achieved basic goals and ambitions and have little time left to do so. Thus, Levinson (1978, 1996) found that most adults surveyed experienced tumultuous midlife conflicts within the self and with the external world.
Not all the challenges at this time of life come from career or one’s partner. In the next section we will examine a special challenge faced by a growing number of middle-aged adults: caring for two generations at once.
The Sandwich Generation During the late 1990s social scientists focused on the sandwich generation —adults who simultaneously try to meet the competing needs of their parents and their children. That is, caregiving goes in two directions: (1) to children, who even as young adults may still require significant direction, and (2) to aging parents, whose health and economic problems may demand
intervention by their adult children. By 2010, 13 million Americans were caring for both their children and their parents.
Like the role of caring for children, the role of caring for aging parents falls disproportionately on women. Overall, women provide 60 percent of the care their parents receive, and even more as the demands of the role grow more intense and time-consuming. Increasingly, middle-aged women and younger are finding themselves on the “daughter track,” as their time and attention are diverted by the needs of their aging mothers and fathers (National Alliance for Caregiving 2015).
The last major transition identified by Levinson occurs after age 60— sometimes well after that age, given advances in health care, greater longevity, and gradual acceptance within society of older people. Nonetheless, there is a point at which people transition to a different lifestyle. As we will see, this is a time of dramatic changes in people’s everyday lives.
©Rex Moreton/Bubbles Photolibrary/Alamy Stock Photo This sandwich-generation mom cares for both her aging parent and her children. Increasingly, members of the baby boom generation find themselves
Page 85
caring for two generations at once.
Adjusting to Retirement Retirement is a rite of passage that marks a critical transition from one phase of a person’s life to another. Typically, symbolic events are associated with this rite of passage, such as retirement gifts, a retirement party, and special moments on the last day on the job. The preretirement period itself can be emotionally charged, especially if the retiree is expected to train his or her successor (Atchley 1976).
Today, the retirement stage is complicated by economic challenges: many older people now lack health benefits, pensions, or both. From 1950 to 1990, the average age at retirement in the United States declined; since then, however, it has risen. In 1992, 11.5 percent of those over age 64 were in the labor force. By 2012, the proportion had increased to 18.5 percent, and is projected to hit 23.0 percent by 2022. In that year, the proportion of people still working in their upper 70s will match the proportion of those who were working in their upper 60s in 1992. Indeed, as recently as 2012, 5 percent of women and 11 percent of men over age 75 were still working (Bureau of Labor Statistics 2013c).
A variety of factors explains this reversal in the trend toward earlier retirement. Changes in Social Security benefits, the recent economic recession, and workers’ concern about maintaining their health insurance and pension benefits have all contributed. At the same time, life expectancy has increased and the quality of people’s health has improved (Toossi 2012).
Phases of Retirement Gerontologist Robert Atchley (1976) has identified several phases of the retirement experience:
Preretirement, a period of anticipatory socialization as the person prepares for retirement The near phase, when the person establishes a specific departure date from his or her job The honeymoon phase, an often euphoric period in which the person pursues activities that he or she never had time for before
The disenchantment phase, in which retirees feel a sense of letdown or even depression as they cope with their new lives, which may include illness or poverty The reorientation phase, which involves the development of a more realistic view of retirement alternatives The stability phase, a period in which the person has learned to deal with life after retirement in a reasonable and comfortable fashion The termination phase, which begins when the person can no longer engage in basic, day-to-day activities such as self-care and housework
Retirement is not a single transition, then, but rather a series of adjustments that varies from one person to another. The length and timing of each phase will differ for each individual, depending on such factors as financial status and health. A particular person will not necessarily go through all the phases identified by Atchley (Reitzes and Mutran 2006).
Some factors, such as being forced into retirement or being burdened with financial difficulties, can further complicate the retirement process. People who enter retirement involuntarily or without the necessary means may never experience the honeymoon phase. In the United States, many retirees continue in the paid labor force, often taking part-time jobs to supplement their pensions.
Like other aspects of life in the United States, the experience of retirement varies according to gender, race, and ethnicity. White males are most likely to benefit from retirement wages, as well as to have participated in a formal retirement preparation program. As a result, anticipatory socialization for retirement is most complete for White men. In contrast, members of racial and ethnic minority groups—especially African Americans—are more likely to exit the paid labor force through disability than through retirement. Because of their comparatively lower incomes and smaller savings, men and women from racial and ethnic minority groups work intermittently after retirement more often than older Whites (National Institute on Aging 1999; Quadagno 2014).
©Dave Carpenter. Reprinted by permission of www.CartoonStock.com.
Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities (NORCs) With recent improvements in health care, older Americans have gained new choices in where to live. Today, rather than residing in nursing homes or planned retirement communities, many of them congregate in areas that have gradually become informal centers for senior citizens. Social scientists have dubbed such areas naturally occurring retirement communities (NORCs).
Using observation research, census data, and interviews, sociologists have developed some interesting conclusions about NORCs in the United States, which account for an estimated 17 to 25 percent of people age 65 or older. These communities can be as small as a single apartment building or as large as a neighborhood in a big city. Often, they emerge as singles and young couples move out and older people move in. Sometimes couples simply remain where they are; as they grow older, the community becomes noticeably grayer. Such has been the case in the Fort Hamilton neighborhood
Page 86
in Brooklyn, New York, where a third of residents are now over 55. In time, business establishments that cater to the elderly—pharmacies, medical supply outlets, small restaurants, senior citizen centers—relocate to NORCs, making them even more attractive to older citizens.
Unfortunately, residents of some of these communities are threatened by gentrification, or the takeover of low-income neighborhoods by higher- income residents. In Chicago, a high-rise building known as Ontario Place is converting to a condominium, at prices that current residents cannot afford. About half the building’s occupants are Russian immigrants; most of the others are people who are elderly or disabled living on fixed incomes. These people are distressed not just because they will need to move, but because their community is being destroyed (Gregor 2013; Piturro 2012; Sheehan 2005).
thinking CRITICALLY Today, many young adults continue to live with their parents after finishing their schooling. Contrast their situation with that of the elderly who live with their children. Does society treat dependent adult children in the same way as dependent parents? Why or why not?
Use Your Sociological Imagination How have people close to you, such as relatives, personally handled their retirement from the labor force?
social policy and sociological research Child Care around the World Child care programs are not just babysitting services; they have an enormous influence on the development of young children—an influence that has been growing with the movement of more and more women into the paid labor force. The rise in single-parent families, increased job opportunities for women, and the need for additional family income have all
propelled mothers of young children into the working world. Who should care for the children of working mothers during working hours?
Looking at the Issue Preschoolers typically are not cared for by their parents. Eighty-eight percent of employed mothers depend on others to care for their children, and 30 percent of mothers who aren’t employed have regular care arrangements. In fact, children under age five are more likely to be cared for on a daily basis by their grandparents or other relatives than by their parents. Over a third of them are cared for by nonrelatives in nursery schools, Head Start programs, day care centers, family day care, and other arrangements (Bureau of the Census 2015b).
Researchers have found that high-quality child care centers do not adversely affect the socialization of children; in fact, good day care benefits children. The value of preschool programs was documented in a series of studies conducted in the United States. Researchers found no significant differences in infants who had received extensive nonmaternal care compared with those who had been cared for solely by their mothers. They also reported that more and more infants in the United States are being placed in child care outside the home, and that overall, the quality of those arrangements is better than has been found in previous studies. It is difficult, however, to generalize about child care, since there is so much variability among day care providers, and even among government policies from one state to another (Campbell et al. 2014; NICHD 2007).
Few people in the United States or elsewhere can afford the luxury of having a parent stay at home, or of paying for high-quality live-in child care. For millions of mothers and fathers, finding the right kind of child care is a challenge both to parenting and to the pocketbook. At present, the federal government supports child care through subsidized programs, which target low-income families, and income tax credits, which benefit families with moderate incomes. The annual expenditure to assist low-income parents is about $12 billion; the expenditure to support parents with moderate incomes is $58 billion. Unfortunately, collectively these programs fall far short of meeting the needs of low-income families in the United States, where child care costs are the third highest among industrial countries (Cushing-Daniels and Zedlewski 2008; Hamm and Martin 2015).
Page 87
Courtesy of Communicare, Perth, Australia Children play at the Communicare day care center in Perth, Australia. The Australian government subsidizes children’s attendance at day care and afterschool programs from birth to age 12.
Applying Sociology Studies that assess the quality of child care outside the home reflect the micro level of analysis and the interest of interactionists in the impact of face-to-face interaction. These studies also explore macro-level implications for the functioning of social institutions like the family. Some of the issues surrounding day care have also been of interest to those who take the conflict perspective.
In the United States, high-quality day care is not equally available to all families. Parents in affluent communities have an easier time finding day care than those in poor or working-class communities. Finding affordable child care is also a problem. Viewed from a conflict perspective, child care costs are an especially serious burden for lower-class families. The poorest families spend 25 percent of their income for preschool child care, whereas families who are not poor pay only 6 percent or less of their income. Despite these problems, subsidized child care has steadily declined over the last decade.
Feminist theorists echo the concern of conflict theorists that high-quality child care receives little government support because it is regarded as “merely a way to let women work.” Nearly all child care workers (97 percent)
are women; many find themselves in low-status, minimum-wage jobs. Typically, food servers, messengers, and gas station attendants make more money than the 1.3 million child care workers in the United States, whose average annual salary of $22,310 puts them right at the poverty level for a family of four (Child Care Aware 2017; Semega et al. 2017:43).
Initiating Policy Policies regarding child care outside the home vary throughout the world. Most developing nations do not have the economic base to provide subsidized child care. Thus, working mothers rely largely on relatives or take their children to work. In the comparatively wealthy industrialized countries of western Europe, government provides child care as a basic service, at little or no expense to parents. But even those countries with tax- subsidized programs occasionally fall short of the need for high-quality child care.
When policymakers decide that child care is desirable, they must determine the degree to which taxpayers should subsidize it. In Sweden and Denmark, one-half to two-thirds of preschoolers are in government- subsidized child care full-time. In the United States, average 2017 annual fees for full-time child care of a four-year-old range from $4,556 in Mississippi to $14,256 in Massachusetts (Child Care Aware 2017; Morath 2016).
Japan is facing a special dilemma. Traditionally, married women and certainly married mothers did not remain in the labor force. Although this social pattern is slowly changing, the availability of day care has not kept pace. Many Japanese policymakers have difficulty recognizing the need for day care. “Is your work so important that you must put your baby in childcare?” they ask. “Why are you being so self-centered?” Little wonder that a single private day care center in Japan recently had a waiting list of 25,000 children (Tabuchi 2013:A9).
We have a long way to go in making high-quality child care more affordable and accessible, not just in the United States but throughout the world as well. In an attempt to reduce government spending, many European countries reduced subsidies. Indeed, 53 percent of women report that they either do not work or are forced to work part-time because child care is too expensive. Another 25 percent are unable to locate child care services. Increasingly European parents, like those in the United States, are forced to cobble together child care out of after-school programs and informal care with friends and relatives (Janta 2014).
Take the Issue with You 1. Were you ever in a day care program? If so, do you recall the experience
as good or bad? In general, do you think it is desirable to expose young
Page 88
children to the socializing influence of day care? 2. In the view of conflict theorists, child care receives little government
support because it is “merely a way to let women work.” Can you think of other explanations?
3. Should the costs of day care programs be paid by government, by the private sector, or entirely by parents?
Mastering This Chapter
Summary Socialization is the process through which people learn the attitudes, values, and actions appropriate for members of a particular culture. This chapter examines the role of socialization in human development; the way in which people develop perceptions, feelings, and beliefs about themselves; important agents of socialization; and the lifelong nature of the socialization process.
1. Socialization affects the overall cultural practices of a society; it also shapes the images that we hold of ourselves.
2. Heredity and environmental factors interact in influencing the socialization process.
3. In the early 1900s, Charles Horton Cooley advanced the belief that we learn who we are by interacting with others, a phenomenon he called the looking-glass self.
4. George Herbert Mead, best known for his theory of the self, proposed that as people mature, their selves begin to reflect their concern about reactions from others—both generalized others and significant others.
5. Erving Goffman has shown that in many of our daily activities, we try to convey distinct impressions of who we are, a process he called impression management.
6. As the primary agents of socialization, parents play a critical role in guiding children into those gender roles deemed appropriate in a society.
7. Like the family, schools in the United States have an explicit mandate to socialize people—especially children—into the norms and values
of our culture. 8. Peer groups and the mass media, especially television and the
Internet, are important agents of socialization for adolescents. 9. Socialization in the workplace begins with part-time employment
while we are in school and continues as we work full-time and change jobs throughout our lives.
10. Religion and the state shape the socialization process by regulating the life course and influencing our views of appropriate behavior at particular ages.
11. Socialization proceeds throughout the life course. Some societies mark stages of development with formal rites of passage. In the culture of the United States, significant events such as the end of formal schooling serve to change a person’s status.
12. As more and more mothers of young children have entered the labor market, the demand for child care has increased dramatically, posing policy questions for many nations around the world.
Key Terms Anticipatory socialization Processes of socialization in which a person
rehearses for future positions, occupations, and social relationships. Cognitive theory of development The theory that children’s thought
progresses through four stages of development. Degradation ceremony An aspect of the socialization process within some
total institutions, in which people are subjected to humiliating rituals. Dramaturgical approach A view of social interaction in which people are
seen as theatrical performers. Face-work The efforts people make to maintain the proper image and avoid
public embarrassment. Gender role Expectations regarding the proper behavior, attitudes, and
activities of males and females. Generalized other The attitudes, viewpoints, and expectations of society as
a whole that a child takes into account in his or her behavior. Impression management The altering of the presentation of the self in
order to create distinctive appearances and satisfy particular audiences.
Life course approach A research orientation in which sociologists and other social scientists look closely at the social factors that influence people throughout their lives, from birth to death.
Looking-glass self A concept that emphasizes the self as the product of our social interactions.
Midlife crisis A stressful period of self-evaluation that begins at about age 40.
Naturally occurring retirement community (NORC) An area that has gradually become an informal center for senior citizens.
Personality A person’s typical patterns of attitudes, needs, characteristics, and behavior.
Resocialization The process of discarding former behavior patterns and accepting new ones as part of a transition in one’s life.
Rite of passage A ritual marking the symbolic transition from one social position to another.
Role taking The process of mentally assuming the perspective of another and responding from that imagined viewpoint.
Sandwich generation The generation of adults who simultaneously try to meet the competing needs of their parents and their children.
Self A distinct identity that sets us apart from others. Significant other An individual who is most important in the development of
the self, such as a parent, friend, or teacher. Socialization The lifelong process in which people learn the attitudes,
values, and behaviors appropriate for members of a particular culture.
Total institution An institution that regulates all aspects of a person’s life under a single authority, such as a prison, the mi
